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Atlantis Marine Park
	Feeding the dolphins, c. 1985
Location	Two Rocks, Western Australia, Australia
Coordinates	31°29′47″S 115°35′10″E / 31.4963°S 115.586°E
Status	Defunct
Opened	1981
Closed	August 1990
Slogan	Atlantis marine park for the enrichment of mankind

Atlantis Marine Park is an abandoned theme park built in 1981 in Two Rocks, at the time a small fishing community 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of central Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The park was a major feature of Alan Bond's Yanchep Sun City plan. It closed in August 1990 due to a financial difficulty.

History

In the 1970s Bond purchased 8,100 hectares (20,000 acres) of land in Yanchep with a plan to build a large resort and residential area.^[2]^[3]^[4] The park was constructed in 1981 with the hope that Perth's rapid expansion would be accompanied by an equal growth in tourism. Six months before the park was opened, seven bottlenose dolphins were caught locally and trained as performance animals for the next ten years. The park was opened by the Premier of Western Australia, Ray O'Connor, and the chairman and president of the Tokyu Corporation, Noburu Gotoh. In his opening speech Gotoh explained that Atlantis was the first element in an expansion plan to make the Yanchep Sun City a premier leisure recreation region.

In 1988, three female dolphin calves were born, which as a result of changes in regulations for holding marine mammals meant Atlantis would have to construct a larger dolphin enclosure. This, coupled with the park gradually losing money, was the reason for the owners closing Atlantis in August 1990.^[5]

Dolphins

Prior to the park's opening, seven bottlenose dolphins were caught from the local coastal population and were used as performance animals for the next ten years. At the time Atlantis closed in 1990, the park had nine dolphins, six wild born, and three captive born juveniles.^[5]^[6]

With the closure of the park, the owners, Tokyu Corporation,^[7]^[8] agreed to a proposal by Nick Gales, a marine park veterinarian and research scientist to fully fund the release of the animals to the wild, provided it would end their financial commitment to the dolphins. The project to release the animals into the wild began in March 1991; the rehabilitation program began in the park pools and eventually moved to a sea pen at the Two Rocks Marina in October 1991. The dolphins were fully released into the wild in January 1992.^[5]

The initial release encountered problems, with some of the dolphins losing a lot of weight. Three of them were recaptured and returned to the sea pen. The three recaptured dolphins were not re-released to the wild, but were relocated to Underwater World, now the Aquarium of Western Australia.^[5]

Current situation

Since its closure in 1990 the park has been abandoned and vandalised,^[9] though the site was featured in the CBBC programme All Over the Place – Australia in March 2014. The site is currently owned by property developers, the Fini Group. A plan has been put forward to the City of Wanneroo to develop the area into a mix of retail, commercial and entertainment land uses.^[9]

A large limestone sculpture of King Neptune by American sculptor Mark Le Buse that originally overlooked the park remains a major landmark in the suburb and is often factored in any future redevelopment plans.^[9] The sculpture, which had sat abandoned and fenced off since the park's closure in 1990, was heritage listed by the Heritage Council of Western Australia in 2006,^[10] before being restored and the surrounding area reopened to the public in May 2015.^[11]

In January 2023, the Sun City precinct, which encompasses the former site of Atlantis Marine Park and the King Neptune sculpture, as well as Two Rocks marina and shopping centre, was added to the State Register of Heritage Places in recognition of Sun City's place as the state's first private residential, commercial and recreational investment project.^[12]

References

^ "Free Web Hosting – Your Website need to be migrated". Free Web Hosting. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
^ "The once and future king". ABC News. 22 March 2010.
^ "Advertising: Yanchep Sun City, 60kms [sic] north of Perth, is the investment of a lifetime". The Canberra Times. Vol. 56, no. 17, 115. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 August 1982. p. 4. Retrieved 13 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Advertising: Yanchep Sun City". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 13, 188. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 28 July 1972. p. 13. Retrieved 13 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The Debate – The Atlantis Marine Park Project – A Whale of a Business – FRONTLINE – PBS". pbs.org.
^ Rogers, Marianne; Thompson, Martin (1994), The dolphins swim free : the story of the Atlantis dolphins, Kangaroo Press, ISBN 978-0-86417-573-1
^ "IN BRIEF:Development". The Canberra Times. Vol. 48, no. 13, 570. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 19 October 1973. p. 3. Retrieved 13 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ..Yanchep .Sun City Ptv Lt...would take over...the development of 19,186 acres of resort and residential area near Perth, Tokyu Corporation announced to day...
^ "Bond, Tokyu tie on Yanchep". The Canberra Times. Vol. 48, no. 13, 683. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 1 March 1974. p. 14. Retrieved 13 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gallo, Lee-Maree (12 July 2011). "Will Atlantis rise again? Online push to restore Perth's classic marine park" – via WA Today.
^ "inHerit – State Heritage Office". inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au.
^ "King stands proud again". Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
^ "King Neptune statue given heritage recognition within Sun City Precinct". Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.