Canberra's Big Splash pool and waterpark fails to open for summer

With temperatures rising, ACT residents are facing a summer without being able to access the Big Splash Waterpark in the Canberra suburb of Belconnen.

Reports indicate that the waterpark and pool is unlikely to open for the 2024/25 season - although management have not advised of the status of the attraction.

Despite peak season approaching, the waterpark’s gates are closed at Big Splash, its pools are empty and its website says the attraction is “under maintenance”, noting “website with tickets coming soon”.

In October, a post on Big Splash’s Facebook page advised that the attraction “will only be opening for a short season this year without the big slides due to major works including upgrading the filtration system on them”.

As of 25th November, another post advised that Big Splash would open for the school holidays “but it won’t be for a couple of weeks”.

However, with school holidays now underway the attraction remains closed while images posted on the Canberra Notice Board Group Facebook page this week show its pools are dry.

It is not known whether the closure relates solely to maintenance matters or whether it relates of safety, insurance, staffing or other issues

The ACT’s other seasonal pools, including those in Dickson, Phillip and Manuka, have all been open for well over a month now and will stay that way until well in March next year.

The waterpark originally opened in the late 1960s as Macquarie Swimming Pool, comprising a 50-metre outdoor pool with a childrens’ section at one end. Waterslides were introduced in the early 1980s.

The ACT Government then sold the facility to husband and wife Ron and Val Watkins, who renamed it and brought the total number of slides up to 11 with additions like the ‘Kamikaze Slide’ (that runs down from the top of ‘Splash Tower’), the ‘Hurricane Twins’, and a children’s area called ‘Splash Island’.

In 2010, Watkins bought the old ‘Speedcoaster’ and ‘Twister’ slides from Wet’n’Wild on the Gold Coast for $1.5 million. These were installed in 2013.

Watkins retired after the site’s lease changed hands to Translink Property Management in 2021, registered to 6 Kuhn Place in Nicholls.

Documents from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Translink is still trading as normal.

Images: Big Splash in operation (top, credit: Big Splash Waterpark/Facebook), empty pools at the attraction this week (middle, credit: Canberra Notice Board Group Facebook page) and advice on the Big Splash Waterpark website (below, credit: Big Splash Waterpark).