Skyrider was a cable car that linked Goldrush with Hanna-Barbera Land. Installed in 1997, it was the only major ride added to Australia’s Wonderland after the Sunway Group took over the park, and it operated until 2002.
Origin: the Sydney Showground cable car
The Skyrider was not built new. It was the cable car from the old Sydney Showground, which Wonderland purchased after the Showground closed down. The gondolas, towers and drive gear were re-erected at Wonderland, where it became the park’s newest attraction.
Layout and operation
The line ran across the park between two stations: the drive end at Hanna-Barbera Land and the return end down in Goldrush. There was no quick path between the two stations on foot, so opening the ride for the day usually meant a maintenance staff member at each station and a five-minute drive up the back road to swap between them. Communication between the stations used the ride’s “airphone” intercom.
The gondolas were fully enclosed, with no door handle on the inside – riders were latched in from the outside by the station operator before being released onto the cable.
A staff story
A maintenance fitter who worked at Wonderland in the early 2000s posted this story on the old Wonderland History forum, under the screen name djsupersleuth:
Skyrider circa 2001-2. Prick of a ride to open up pre park open, I was doing the ride check on it one day and you needed a maint person at the other end in order to do this. So the sparky goes to the drive end (HB) and I was down the return end (Goldrush) and whilst waiting for the sparky to make the 5 minute drive up the back road I decided to “have a rest” in a gondola. In I go and the gondola swings sideways and the door slams shut behind me. Well those here who are familiar with the gondolas would know that there is no handle on the inside so I had effectively “Charlied” myself. I could hear the sparky up the drive end trying to raise me on the “airphone”. I called 61 Charlie position 19 to my sparky colleague who confused came all the way back and let me out. Very red faced I must say. Also put us back 15 minutes on our busy weekend schedules of getting back to the canteen for smoko and floating around the park on social calls.
djsupersleuth, Wonderland History forum
Closure
The Skyrider closed in 2002, two years before the park itself shut its gates. It was the last new ride installed at Wonderland.
Aftermath
The Skyrider’s cables had one more job to do. On Saturday 27 August 2005, during the demolition of the Bush Beast, one of the Skyrider’s steel cables was taken down and wrapped around the wooden coaster, then connected to two D9 bulldozers that tried to pull the structure over. The cable snapped several times under the load before the dozers gave up and simply drove through the supports. The full account is on the demolition timeline.
Photos
No “in operation” photos of the Skyrider have surfaced. The only set we have is from the 1997 installation:
