In memory of Kent Learned
Passed away 13 August 2025 – rest in peace.
This audio section is dedicated to the memory of Kent Learned. Kent was a huge inspiration and the curator of all things audio at Australia’s Wonderland, and a great deal of the information across these pages was written for us by Kent himself.
Kent started at Wonderland in 1989 with real theme-park audio pedigree. He shared decades of knowledge about the sound systems, music and audio engineering that made the park feel alive – and he made sure that knowledge was preserved here for everyone who loved Wonderland.
About Kent, in his own words
Kent posted the following to the Wonderland History Facebook group on 18 August 2018, in answer to questions about his background.
After High School, I went to the American equivalent of TAFE, called Junior College (JC) for about 4 years. After several false starts in pre-University engineering, Music, and accounting, I ended up getting a diploma in electronics. All the false starts have proved very useful in later years.
While I was going to J.C., I was playing bass guitar in a rock band. We played at Camp Pendleton Marine Base during the Vietnam war (1969-71) between 2 and 6 times a week. There’s nothing like playing four hour gigs, several times a week to develop your musicianship and make the band sound tight. At one point we had over 110 songs on our play list, all from memory. At the same time, I also played in a bluegrass band, a folk music group, an ecumenical youth chorale, as well as singing in church & two different JC choirs.
After J.C., I worked in a guitar factory, an unfinished furniture factory, and several years later a banjo factory, as well as restoring ships at The San Diego Maritime Museum for three years. I then ran sound & light for a night club act 6 nights a week for 1.5 years. I’ve maintained sound systems in sporting stadiums, theme parks, and large churches. I designed, prototyped, and installed sound systems at Paramount and Disney Theme parks, lab testing over 850 different loudspeakers along the way. Upon arriving in Australia (I married an Aussie), I worked for a year at the Sydney Opera House, then for two audio recording console manufactures, one here, and one previously in the states. I worked for 9 and a half years in the Wonderland audio department. I left in 1999 when many of the maintenance department people didn’t have their contracts renewed, mine included.
I don’t have any hard feelings now days, as I’ve since gone onto operate P.A. Systems for The Royal Easter Show, the Olympics & Para Olympics. I’ve also been doing the sound at two different major music festivals every year since 2000. I have mixed sound for well over 40 musicals in the last 23 years.
Now days I’m semi retired and do some live sound jobs, if they’re interesting. I enjoy both full size and model trains. I particularly like designing/replicating scale model train buildings, carriages, and wagons on the computer. I then cut them out on a friends laser cutter, and assemble the final models. It’s like a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle and keeps my mind ticking over.
I’m still playing bass guitar in a bush band, and on Sunday mornings at church in the contemporary worship service. Life has been good, and I’ve now been blessed with my first grand child this year.
Uncle Spods and Mr Kents – tales of Wonderland audio
Rod Nielsen kicked the series off in this 31 December 2017 Facebook post:
I reckon as the new year bein’ upon us an’ all.. tis a good time to start “Uncle Spods (and hopefully) Mr Kents – Tales of Wonderland Audio Stuff !!” This will be a surprise to Kent as I just made it up tonight.
Bit of an intro.. I started at AWL in the “shutdown” period after the first season .. up ’til then I’d been one of them gee’tarists types.. then I got me a gig in a Theme Park as a ‘Sound Operator’ … changed my life. I loved the joint.. ..still do.
My friend – to this day – Mr Kent Learned started at WallyWorld in ’89 … with real Theme Park audio pedigree… and tho he kindly calls me tha ‘boss’… we both know who da man was.
I will try to poke as much park related audio tech stuff as I can remember…. and I’m hoping Mr Kent will fill in the best bits. ….. anyways….here we go.
The articles in this section – the ride P.A. systems, the 24-volt amplifiers, the Woolshed, the Wildlife Park audio, the Sound Room and more – were largely written by Kent and his colleagues, drawing on first-hand experience inside the park.