Paronella Park (Jackson)

A castle in Australia, at Paronella Park, which we are going to! The castle, built by José Paronella, has quite a history.  José had a dream. He found a beautiful rainforest property by the side of a waterfall and wanted to build a castle that was similar to those back in Spain. He had made a fortune buying and selling sugarcane properties. He worked by hand to create an amazing castle with a ballroom (which was also used as a movie theatre), refreshment rooms, a tennis court, fountains and other buildings. He also created lanes through the rainforest and planted lots of exotic plants.

  José built the first hydro electric power station in north Queensland, giving power to the castle 20 years before the rest of the town had access to power. Lots of people would come to the castle to watch movies, dance and enjoy the lake and waterfall. There was a section called “Lovers’ Lane” which led to a tunnel that was called the “Tunnel of Love”. This lead out to another waterfall called Theresa Falls, named after José’s daughter.

Of course, there is a sad side to it. What José didn’t know was that the materials he put in expanded during the wet season, therefore making the castle slowly fall apart. The worst event however was a massive flood in 1946 that destroyed lots of the buildings and gardens. José rebuilt as much as he could, but some people have said the place was never the same. He died of stomach cancer and after his death the property gradually became a ruin.

More recently the ballroom’s roof burnt down after a wedding and the walls were knocked down during Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi.

Paronella Park was bought by a couple in 1993 who are gradually recreating José’s dream. They have stabilised the remaining walls and are about to rebuild the ballroom. They have restored the original paths and gardens, and have even rebuilt the old hydro-electric system.

The castle was great, with fish feeding, turtle viewing, crocodile watching (a croc was recently found there so we couldn’t swim!) and endless tracks. I found it very good and I wish I could do it again.