funpier

Mike, I am wondering if you are the little boy I remember from Manly Fun Pier. He would also help out by buying food for the workers from the shop near the front gate and deliver it to them. I recall two boys and a girl whose name was possibly Maibrit, or similar, doing this. Other memories: Also, the Manly Fun Pier management built an attraction at Kings Cross around '74, perhaps earlier. My brother worked on the building of it. It was a maze and I think it was close to the Wax Works. I recall going through this maze of Mirrors. It had a number of rotating doors which activated strobe lighting as they rotated. Each door had a couple of exits which randomly opened and added to the challenge of finding your way out. Does anyone else remember this maze? The Fun Pier management also owned the Shark Aquarium and then bought the Oceanarium. I recall working at both but was more often at the Shark Aquarium when not needed in the Fun Pier shop. People loved coming through the Shark's mouth to enter the Aquarium. It was one large pool and the sealife was viewed from above.

To add to the post above... I think the boats were called Bumper Boats and the kiddies car ride was called the Autocars. The sideshows were Clowns, Roll 'em Down and Basketball (Shooting Goals).

I also worked there in the 70's and have fond memories of the place. I recognise a couple of people in the postcard pictures posted above. I remember the lovely ladies who operated the sideshows. Also, there was the Mirror Maze man, Fred, who loved his job and gave everyone badges (Maze Master) as a reward for finding the way out of the maze. Ian S(I think) operated the Boats which were in the pool in the back corner, (they were similar in operation to the dodgem cars). Ken ran the Rock-o-plane. John S. owned the FunHouse and the shop. Lin operated the Octopus. 'Junior' and his Dad operated the Dodgems. Peter C. was one of the bosses with John S. I can't place a Brian Green but there was a Brian H. who was possibly a junior partner. I think Jackie operated the Ghost Train for a while. Leonie did various jobs, as I did, which included operating the small Carousel, Shop, Mini Cars, at the front, and the Choo Choos down the back. I also worked on the little cars which went round over little hills but I can't remember what this ride was called. It was a kiddies ride beside the Ghost Train. I also remember that there was a TV show filmed there one day. I can't remember the show's name but the episode's name was Mixed Doubles and I think Ray Walston (My Favourite Martian) made a guest appearance in this episode but he wasn't at the pier for the filming. An actor, the criminal, had to grab the Octopus's arm and hold on as it rotated, then drop into the ocean to escape (or maybe he was "shot" and dropped for a dramatic "death"). After the big storm, the pier was thought to be possibly unsafe and was closed while tests were carried out. The tests involved placing hundreds of oil drums of sea water as weights over the pier to test it's strength. The pier was able to re-open after quite a lengthy time, following the results of the tests, but I think the lengthy closure had brought economic problems to the owners. The sign greeting ferry arrivals stated "7 miles from Sydney and 1000 miles from care.." I think that's how it was for me.