Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
Concrete castles, a waterfall and a rainforest garden offer several ways into the story of Paronella Park.
On this page
Mamu Country
Paronella Park acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Mamu People. Their history in the region spans more than 40,000 years, kept and shared through an oral tradition practised for generations.
The story of José Paronella is one recent chapter in that much longer history.
A park built by hand
José Paronella bought the land in 1929 and, with his wife Margarita, built a stone house, a castle, staircases and gardens, mostly in poured concrete reinforced with old railway track. The park opened to the public in 1935.
A hydro-electric plant on the creek, the earliest in North Queensland, powered the whole park.
Lost and saved
A flood in 1946 and a fire in 1979 damaged the park badly. Since 1993 Mark and Judy Evans have worked to preserve it, restoring the hydro-electric system in 2009. Today the park is heritage-listed.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
