00:00Have you ever visited Perth's 10-metre-tall limestone King Neptune statue,
00:04the last remaining relic of the long-abandoned Atlantis Marine Park?
00:09Once a major drawcard to Two Rocks in the 1980s,
00:13the theme park was envisioned as a SeaWorld meets DreamWorld experience
00:16and formed part of a much larger ambition by Lake WA businessman Alan Bond.
00:21Bond's plan was to create the Sun City Precinct, a northern hub for Perth,
00:25featuring a marina, yacht club, accommodation and a shopping centre,
00:28with Atlantis Marine Park at its heart.
00:30The launch of the greatest spectacle the West has ever seen.
00:33When the park opened in the early 1980s, it attracted enormous interest,
00:37welcoming more than 13,500 visitors in its first few days.
00:41The performing seals, the sea lions, the sharks, exotic fish, a multi-million...
00:47But despite its popularity, the park was also highly controversial.
00:51Seven wild bottlenose dolphins were taken into captivity and trained for public shows.
00:55They remained the park's headline attraction for many years,
00:58during which time three calves were born.
01:00But as public attitudes shifted, new legislation around dolphin welfare became a turning point.
01:05New laws required much larger enclosures.
01:07Combined with mounting financial pressures,
01:09the future of the park ultimately proved unsustainable,
01:12seeing it close its doors in 1990.
01:14Today, the former Sun City Precinct at Two Rocks is listed on the WA State Register of Heritage Places.
01:20The King Neptune statue has since been restored,
01:22and any new development on the site must be compatible with the heritage value of this iconic Perth landmark.
