General News
1 April, 2023
The ‘Big Splash’ 20 years on
Free and fun activities to mark Lagoon’s birthday tomorrow
THE Cairns Esplanade Lagoon – which turns 20 tomorrow – is the most popular public facility in the city.
The Cairns Regional Council is hosting a 20th birthday party to mark the milestone tomorrow with a free family event from 3pm to 9pm, including free admission to the Reef Eye ferris wheel, live entertainment, children’s activities, and the screening of the movie Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Mayor Bob Manning told a birthday cake gathering at the Lagoon on Tuesday that former mayor Kevin Byrne wrote in the Big Splash program booklet at the opening on Saturday, March 29, 2003:
“There is no doubt that the opening of the Cairns Esplanade swimming lagoon precinct will herald a new era for the inner city of Cairns.”
“His words were prophetic, with the facility the most frequented public destination in the city and beloved by locals and visitors alike,” Cr Manning said.
“In the two decades since coming online, the 4000sqm artificial pool, has hosted more than 25 million visitors.
“It remains a “go to” for both locals and visitors, with a sandy area on eastern edge and a newly refurbished timber boardwalk, jetties and grassy expanses on the opposite side.”
It is understood in the 1990s avid swimmer Alan Burgoyne lobbied the then-mayor Tom Pyne and councillors for a swimming area on the Esplanade and the council started the ball rolling to secure finance.
Mr Byrne was at the helm when the Esplanade Lagoon project started to take shape, moving from a concept to a reality.
“It was a project that would transform the Cairns Esplanade from a strip of grass and concrete steps down to a beach that as more mud than sand, into the iconic destination it is today,” he said.
“A lot of people were against it at the time, these were the days when Cairns did not have the confidence it has now.
“I believed we needed to be an international city and international cities have to think big.
“This was the second big project that really internationalised Cairns, after the opening Cairns International Airport.
“I never had a doubt it would be a success, we just had to press go and we had to be committed to it.”
At the cake cutting were also former mayor Ron Davis, and past councillors Fran Lindsay, Jeff Pezzutti, Deirdre Ford, Margaret Cochrane and former Cairns MP Desley Boyle.
