Jamberoo Action Park
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| Slogan | "Where you control the action" |
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| Location | Jamberoo, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 34°37′00″S 150°46′59″E / 34.6168°S 150.783°ECoordinates: 34°37′00″S 150°46′59″E / 34.6168°S 150.783°E |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Previous names | Jamberoo Recreation Park |
| Operating season | Spring through Autumn |
| Website | www |
Jamberoo Action Park is a water park and small theme park at Jamberoo, New South Wales.
In 1974 the Eddy family bought a dairy farm in Jamberoo valley.
The farm was only marginally profitable and when the Minister for Primary Industry of the time, Mr Don Day, reduced the milk quotas on the south coast, the farm, as it stood, was no longer viable.
Various agricultural options were investigated but proved unsuitable as 25% of the land is very steep and has only light soil cover and this kept any potential profit down.
All the Eddy family were keen snow skiers and their creative imagination was triggered by a television ski show, Green Snow, which featured the Italian Olympic ski team training on grass in their summer.
They contacted the manufacturer of the Italian grass skis, Rolka, and decided to purchase 10 pairs.
The skis were a great success and, to facilitate a commercial operation with faster and easier ascents they built a rope tow on a steel cable, powered by a Holden motor. Another 20 pairs of skis were imported and hired out from a disused farm shed.
In early 1980 the Eddy family embarked on the creation of a recreation park with an amenities building, restaurant, carpark and, the all important, chairlift.
The chairlift started its life in the Snowy Mountains as part of a grand, but unsuccessful, scheme to link the Chalet at Charlotte pass to the Alpine Way at Thredbo. This venture was abandoned after high winds and repeated heavy snowfalls rendered it inoperable.
The Eddy family bought the chairlift and transported it to Jamberoo. As the lift was isolated inside a National Park it was removed, in pieces, by helicopter as the alternative was to drive vehicles "off road" and this was not permitted.
Once in Jamberoo the chairlift was upgraded and erected by experienced contractors from "the snow". The drive unit required a new motor, the sheave assemblies (which were the cause of most of the derailing problems of the original lift) were redesigned, the cable was replaced and new chairs built around the frames of the originals. The remainder of the chairlift, including the towers and bull wheels, was in good order and was erected without modification.
The first stage of Jamberoo Recreation Park was completed in time for the staging of the 1980 Australian Grass Ski Titles with final safety checks just one day prior to the event. To ensure that the chairs were safe two, 200 litre, drums of water (at least 400 kg of weight) were attached to each chair on the uphill side of the lift, the brakes were disconnected and chairlift allowed to build up speed and then staff had to stop it by winding on a handbreak. Grass skiing received heightened attention in Australia when Jamberoo hosted the World Titles, 21–22 May in 1983. The championships were contested by teams from Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England, the US, and a large contingent of Australian racers. Over time grass skiing, being physically demanding and challenging, gave way to the more passive recreational pursuits now featured at the park.
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Wikipedia