Big Splash is a waterpark in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, Australia. It is located in the suburb of

Macquarie Macquarie may refer to: People * Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. * Elizabeth Macquarie Campbell, Lachlan Macquarie's second wife Locations * Division of Macquarie, an electoral district in th ...

and is the only waterpark in Canberra. It opened in 1969 as a public swimming pool, and has since become a private waterpark.

History

The establishment was originally government-owned and known as "Macquarie Swimming pool", also often referred to as "Jammo Pool". The slides were introduced in the early 1980s. During the 1990s the pool was sold to the Watkins family. The current name for the facility is "Big Splash Waterpark". Upon opening, it contained only a pool and a kids pool. It now has a total of eleven water slides, which includes the Family Slide and the Kamikaze slide that extend downwards from the top of Splash Tower, The Hurricane Twins that begin at the Splash Viewing Platform. Big Splash includes a children's area called Splash Island which includes 3 slides and playing area. There was the Yellow Bubble pool for toddlers, which had two small water slides landing into shallow water. However this was removed in the 2014/2015 season and a new playground was installed for smaller children. There is also a "Learn to Swim Pool" and a Pool. Big Splash also has a dry Inflatable Obstacle Course for Children, and wet Inflatable Obstacle Courses for Adults and Children. Following the 2010 closures of the Speedcoaster and Twister slides at

Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast is a water park situated in Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, owned and operated by Village Roadshow Theme Parks. In 2019, the park received 1,120,000 visitors making it the most visited water park in Austra ...

on the Gold Coast, Watkins personally purchased both rides for $1.5 million. The rides were installed in 2012, but

red tape Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to ...

delayed their opening until 2013. The slides were actually purchased for a reduced price by Wet 'n Wild. For the 2014/2015 season the longstanding historic "yellow bubble" was removed and a new toddlers playground installed. Big Splash used to run dive in movies, however frequent crowd cancellations led to its closure. The facility is closed over winter and is open from November to March.

References

External links

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Big Splash Waterpark on Facebook
Water parks in Australia Tourist attractions in Canberra Buildings and structures in Canberra 1960s establishments in Australia 1960 establishments in Australia {{Australia-struct-stub