dotlit: 'A Little Piece of Cloudland' by Francesca Berger While driving along Breakfast Creek Road in Brisbane you can see a large billboard advertising the Cloudland apartments for sale. What a wonderful place to live, up there, past the Mediterranean Church of Victories, on the site of the old Cloudland Ballroom. On Boyd Street, on the old ballroom site, nearing the angels, the view stretches through the clouds to the city and the Brisbane River. The Cloudland Ballroom has been described as a 'material history of Brisbane heterosexual romantic fantasy' (by Reekie), favourably compared to the Taj Mahal and often cited as an example of high kitsch. And even though this piece of Brisbane architectural and social history now has apartments built on it, so many people speak of their memories of the Cloudland Ballroom it is as if everyone in Brisbane over the age of fifty has a little piece of Cloudland in them. The Cloudland Ballroom was built in 1939-40. It was said to be the finest ballroom of its kind in Australia and have the best sprung dance floor in the southern hemisphere. It had an entrance shaped like a hollow Easter egg and, inside, eighteen metre high arches sheltered hidden alcoves with upholstered seating. The Ballroom could comfortably hold two thousand people and had an inside balcony stretching around the sides of the dance floor. At its center was an enormous pink dome. The Cloudland site also originally included an amusement park known as 'Luna Park' and the architect of the project, Adolphus Parry-Fielder, wanted to image the location as an Alpine resort. To this end he used a funicular rail he had copied from Europe, with two cars, holding thirty passengers each, carrying patrons up 330 feet from Breakfast Creek road to Cloudland Ballroom. During the Second World War the Cloudland Ballroom was used for dances and was a common place for visiting servicemen to meet local girls. It was then commandeered by the military and used by the American soldiers and Camp 'Luna Park', as it was then known, had rows of sleeping cots set up on the sprung dance floor. Even though Cloudland's architecture was memorable, it is the social memories that come to the fore as a meeting place for thousands of Brisbane couples. Now seventy-five years old, a Brisbane resident remembers back to younger days catching trams home from Cloudland after the sun had risen, still wearing his dinner jacket. He would have danced to the music of Billy Romaine's orchestra. "I remember one time we were there (Cloudland), it was before I met my wife, there was a big blue. Yeah, just by the tram." He drifts off into another time shaking his head. "The police didn't know what to do so left 'em to it." He laughs and looks young again. "I've been married fifty years, met my wife at Cloudland." Cloudland's halcyon days did not finish with the war, for during the later 1940s it hosted up to forty-seven balls a year. Indeed, over its forty years, Cloudland hosted a large number of local and international bands and that sprung dance floor was put to use time and time again despite the Queensland authorities' ambivalence to 'different' music. In the late 1950s Johnny O'Keefe's act was not permitted to be promoted as a night of 'Rock and Roll', but was billed as a Jazz concert instead. In the 1960s, Brisbane was so staid as to be described as being in the dark ages; a place where wearing a mini skirt and makeup would create a stir. In the 1970s, along with the banning of street marches in Brisbane, the police would turn up with the 'dog squad' to halt those music performances they thought looked (and sounded) 'suspicious'. Cloudland was an intrinsic part of all of these times. Kevin Bates remembers Ian Dury and the Blockheads performing at Cloudland circa 1982. Writing in an email after Dury's death, he said, "I will always remember the concert in Brisbane Cloudland's theatre. The boys in blue didn't know what to do when you sang 'Spasticus Autisticus' after the State Government (Queensland) had threatened arrest if you did. It sure got the crowd going." Dance bands, jazz groups and rock bands all performed at Cloudland. Bands such as Midnight Oil, Dragon, Split Enz, Cold Chisel and the infamous Clash ensured Cloudland Ballroom was a part of a Queensland's growing up. But Queensland's maturity also meant an increase in population. In 1982 six thousand fans wanted to attend the Clash concert at the venue that was built to hold two thousand. Cloudland had become known as 'Loudland' to local neighbours, and the last two concerts in the premises resulted in thirty seven arrests. When its liquor licence was cancelled in 1980, it became illegal to have alcohol within thirty yards of the Ballroom. However, Elaine van Kempen writes of her memories of excited girls attending Cloudland balls and 'lifting' the punch with colourless spirits. A friend of hers said about Cloudland: 'About a third of Brisbane was conceived in the car park'. Many newspaper articles during the 1970s spoke of the rejuvenation of the Ballroom. The dome at the center had started sinking and public sentiment was that the premises should be preserved as one of Brisbane's best-known landmarks. In 1979, a Mr. Holmes, then manager of Cloudland, reported in the Sunday Mail that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent on repairs to the building and the site was to be developed as a big entertainment center, including the ballroom. However, plans for apartments were also proposed to Brisbane City Council as early as 1976. Cloudland had five owners over the years. The first was T.H. Eslick, an American entrepreneur, then there were Mrs. Winter and Mrs. Roach, who bought the ballroom from Eslick and named it Cloudland. Hans Apel then owned the Ballroom until 1968 when it was sold to Peter Kurts, and it was Kurts who, in 1982, found the cost of restoration prohibitive. In a statement to the Courier Mail he stated "the fibro, plaster and wooden building was in a serious state of deterioration and they were becoming very concerned for the safety of the people using it". At that time Cloudland was heritage listed for its social value, although Queensland had no legislation in place to stop its destruction. During the Bjelke-Petersen reign in Queensland, many colonial and post- colonial buildings with a connection to Brisbane's social heritage were demolished. Some of these were destroyed under the cover of darkness and without public consultation. Cloudland Ballroom was one of these. The Deen brothers, infamous for using their wrecking balls on many Queensland buildings, demolished the ballroom at 4 a.m. on November 7th, 1982, in an overnight operation, not even bothering to clear its furnishings first. A small crowd watched on, but could do nothing to stop the wreckage. A proper salvage demolition operation would have taken six weeks and, as there was no permit issued for the demolition, this delay may have totally halted its destruction. A two hundred dollar fine was the only punishment imposed on the owner for the illegal demolition and the Brisbane City Council also prevented signatures being collected after the demolition of Cloudland calling for immediate heritage protection legislation — a Bill that, in 1982, had been promised for seven years. The sense of outrage many felt has passed and now apartments have been built on the site. There is no dome left on the hill, no edifice, no souvenir of the Cloudland Ballroom's egg-shaped entrance. The elegant statues of toga-clad women and the twinkling poles are gone. A landmark has disappeared. However, the views remain, alongside the many little pieces of Cloudland in those that knew it. Perhaps the Deen brothers motto, 'all we leave behind are the memories', has come true. References and Further Reading Armanno, V. (2000, March 6) Courier Mail, 14. Bates, K. (2000) Deepest Regrets. http://www.iandury.co.uk/body.htm Dunn, P. (1996). Oz at War. http://www.ozatwar.com/locations/camlunaark.htm Dwyer, N. (1984 October 28) Sunday Mail, 5 Garrett, P. (1999). National Trust 1999 Annual Heritage Lecture. http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/garrett.html Hogan, J. (1982). Living History of Brisbane. Brisbane: Boolarang. Jackson, J. (1979, September 9). Waltzing Back to the Good Old Days. Sunday Sun, 55. Mason, A. (1996, June 6). Balloon Blitzed. Courier Mail, 6. McKenzie, A. (1982, November 9) Courier Mail, 3. Morley, P. (1982, November 9) Courier Mail, 3. Rademaker, Y. (1982, June 14). Cloudland Show Still Goes On. Courier Mail, 5. Reekie, G. (1992). Women and Heritage Policy. Culture and Policy, 4, (8). http://www.gu.edu.au/centre/cm/4-08-Reekie.html Ryan, T. (1989 November 11). Hooker Crash Forces Sale of Cloudland site. Weekend Australian, 22. State of the Nation, 1980-1990. http://www.cofq.qld.gov.au/1980.html Stringer, P. ( 1999). Vanishing Queensland. http://www.nationaltrustqld.org/vanishingqld/index.htm 'The Cloudland Railway' (1982). Sunshine Express, Journal of the Australian Railway Historical Society, Queensland Division. 18 (201), 226. Toxico's home page online: Early Punk Brisbands (1977-1982). (1996) http://homeage.oweru.com.au/~toxico/brisband.htm Van Kempen, E. (1999). Vanishing Queensland Reader Contributions. http://wwwnationaltrustqld.org/cgi-bin1/memories.pl Voss, N. (2002 March 17) They're at It Again! Deen Brothers Reduce Another to Rubble. Sunday Mail, 19. Yorke, R. (1999 May 23) Brisbane's House of Rock. Sunday Mail, 5. Courier Mail, August 3, 1940 10; March 18, 1977, 3. Chronicle, November 9, 1982, 3. Sunday Mail, October 2, 1977, 4. Telegraph, September 12, 1968, 12.