Bill Hanna and Wonderland

William (Bill) Hanna, co-founder with Joe Barbera of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio that created Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, Scooby-Doo and hundreds of other characters, is the person the park’s own souvenir book credits with the idea of Australia’s Wonderland. Hanna had a long association with Australia: more than a decade before the park opened he set up an Australian animation division at Crows Nest in Sydney, which produced many of the studio’s television shows.

Hanna believed that Sydney was ready for a large, world class themed amusement park. His enthusiasm spread to others, and the market research that followed indicated strong demand for a major family entertainment attraction, proving him right according to the park’s first Managing Director, Keith James. Taft Broadcasting, the owner of Hanna-Barbera, became the managing partner of the project, and the park’s children’s area, Hanna-Barbera Land, was built around his characters.

Hanna was at the groundbreaking ceremony at Minchinbury on 8 June 1984, when Premier Neville Wran launched construction, and at the opening on 7 December 1985. On 6 December 1985 he met the press at the park; the photographs of him with Yogi Bear and drawing Fred Flintstone are on The History of Australia’s Wonderland.

Wonderland kept its Hanna-Barbera licence until early 2002, when the agreement was not renewed and the characters left the park; that story is on the Characters page.