Gary Shead and Peter Kingston. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Luna Park is important as a place of significance to generations of the Australian Public, in particular Sydney siders who have strong memories and associations with the place. Its landmark location at the centre of Sydney Harbour together with its recognisable character has endowed it with a far wider sense of ownership, granting it an iconic status. Luna Park received considerable attention following the tragic Ghost Train fire of 1979 and the ensuing short term closure of the park. It became the focus of considerable public action when it was threatened with redevelopment and remains a subject of high public interest. "It has become symbolic of political and community concern for issues such as the treatment of harbour foreshore, opposition to high-rise development and retention in public ownership of the public estate." The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. Luna Park Precinct is a resource that is likely to yield information through archaeological investigation. Physical and visual evidence survives from most of the major phases of use and activities undertaken within the area. Luna Park has potential to contain archaeological resources associated with all historical phases of the site's development, including pre-European occupation, development of transport systems in this area, the Dorman Long and Co phase of activity and development and the establishment and development of Luna Park itself. In the unlikely event that intact deposits of Aboriginal relics are present, these would have considerable research potential. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. Luna Park is unique as a rare surviving example of an amusement park and fantasy architecture in the art deco idiom of the 1930s. The original murals and design of Luna Park demonstrate an amusement park aesthetic that was inherited from America and reinterpreted in an Australian context. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. Does not meet this criteria. See also Big Dipper (Luna Park Sydney) References Bibliography Attribution External links Phillips brothers biography: [2], by Bruce Corneil New South Wales State Heritage Register