The Cloudland Dance Hall, originally called Luna Park, was a famous entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was demolished in 1982 and the site was subsequently developed into an apartment complex. On its hilltop site above Brisbane, Cloudland's distinctive parabolic laminated roof arch, nearly high, was highly visible. A funicular railway ran from the main road straight up the steep part of the hill and provided easy access to the ballroom site. The funicular was dismantled in 1967 and the area was turned into a car park. Cloudland was the venue for numerous formal balls, concerts, weekend dances, civic events, school and university examinations and, later, a marketplace. History Purchased in June 1938 for £50,000 on the crest of Montpelier Heights at , the site was to be Brisbane's Luna Park. The area was constructed in 1939–40, by T. S. Eslick and opened on 2 August 1940. Eslick paid particular attention to the dance floor. He wanted to create the "best ballroom in the Southern Hemisphere". Queensland timbers were used throughout. The ballroom was modelled on the La Monica ballroom in Santa Monica, California, designed and built by Eslick in 1924. A funicular railway ran up the side of the hill from the tram stop on Breakfast Creek Road carrying passengers to the rear of the ballroom. The dual-track railway, powered by 50-horsepower electric motors, were for those not seeking to climb the winding 'rural' track; met by a large Poinciana tree preserved at the hilltop car entrance. The site was originally intended to have a fun park like Luna Park in Melbourne, which Eslick had built in 1912. The fun park was not built by the time World War II began. It was the largest building of its type in Brisbane, and the largest dance hall in Australia; with capable of accommodating 1,000 couples dancing, 1,000 in the loges around the floor, and 2,000 in the galleries above. The Breakfast Creek Road main entrance had two trees at the foot of the hill, and a blaze of light sweeping back onto the hill, based on the Elephant Tower entrance to the San Francisco World's Fair. A fortnight from its opening had seen 19,000 dancers on the floor, with old-style, new-vogue and modern dancing, with music provided by Billy Romaine and his Luna Park Orchestra; as well as a champion dance team, and entertainers Billy Williams