Comments on: Wobbies World

By: Glen

Glen — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 05:37:44 +0000

It’s in Victoria, not New South Wales. I can also confirm that Wobbies World derives from “Robbie”. My friend who leave in Davey Lane Forest Hill (next door) said that a local boy used to say “Wobbie” because they couldn’t pronounce Robbie. Another friend of mine also worked there late 90’s and actually worked on the final shift. He said it all happened pretty quickly as there was increasing safety issues and a woman was injured in a ride and threatened to sue – I can find out more info if you like. There were remnants of the site for years, with the castle being part of the nursery and heaps of infrastructure put back until a couple of years (look at street view from 2009). Interesting tidbit – local Melbourne band the Meanies shot their video “Them” on site at Wobbies World. I actually walked past the site during stage 4 lockdown and I can confirm all land behind The Forest Hill Cop Shop is cleared so I think that Wobbies World is now just a distant memory.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 22:07:44 +0000

In reply to Nicole. Thanks for the great comment - I love the insights!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:40:27 +0000

I never got to visit Wobbies World as a kid and I still feel like I missed out on something!! My first experience of Wobbies World would have been in 2004, my family were looking to lease a site for a garden centre and we were shown through the property by Mrs Laurie, I think I recall her name was Barbara - or maybe she just seemed like one. Her husband Robyn, known affectionately as Wobby (I seem to remember this was because a niece had trouble with saying R) had recently passed away. At this time the Splashdown Ride was lying in pieces and offered for sale, with no plans to show how to put it back together!! When we took over the site there was an incredible amount of work to do, in one section, the weeds were so thick and high that we had no idea there was an entire VW Beetle under there. The Castle remained in place for so long for two reasons - the first being that Robyn had constructed a very sturdy building, he apparently loved finding scrap to recycle and the windows were so tough you could bounce a car battery off them. The second was that it was riddled with asbestos and too expensive to pull down. No heritage listing there. On rather a dull note, the reason for the garden centre being named The Park was because we had relocated the business previously named this from Hampton Park. We kept it because it still worked. On a very sad note, this is also the location where the owner of the nursery, my father, passed away suddenly in 2009. I still have a mini golf sign somewhere as well as a few odds and ends. Thanks for your post, I enjoy reading blogs like these from time to time.to reminiscence.

By: John Blanks

John Blanks — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 01:51:17 +0000

Wobbie was Robin.
Robin = Robbie = Wobbie. Nothing more to the name than that. It’s an Australian thing.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 13:23:57 +0000

I enjoyed reading your appraisal of the park – but if you’d like to amend your piece with actual vision of the park in operation, there’s a ten minute video on this page:

https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/wobbies-world

It really shows how crappy and decrepit the place actually was – and going by the clothes and vehicles in the car park, looks like it’s from the 80s….

One highlight is a full first-person experience of some the rides – including the monorail helicopter ride – rust and rickety action galore…

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 13:22:38 +0000

Wobbies world backed onto a catholic school called Emmaus College. Our house backed onto the school. My brother and I would often sneak into Wobbies World through the “hedge” maze, which was situated at the very rear of the park. The fence was as crappy as the rest of the park – easily climbed through.

I enjoyed reading your appraisal of the park – but if you’d like to amend your piece with actual vision of the park in operation, there’s a ten minute video on this page:

https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/wobbies-world

It really shows how crappy and decrepit the place actually was – and going by the clothes and vehicles in the car park, looks like it’s from the 80s….

One highlight is a full first-person experience of some the rides – including the monorail helicopter ride – rust and rickety action galore…

By: Tone

Tone — Sun, 17 May 2020 22:13:30 +0000

My first introduction to Wobbies World (in a roundabout kind of way) was via the Pissweak World sketches on The Late Show when I was in my teens. This is a seriously impressive article btw… the depth of research is absolutely staggering, and I’ve bookmarked this site as I can see myself returning, even though I’m not a theme park aficionado. A case in point is just how much effort went into trying to determine what “Wobbie” in “Wobbies World” refers to.

My hypothesis as to the origin of the name is relatively simple. The park was owned by a dude named Robin. Aussies have a tendency to alter people’s names either by shortening them, or adding a suffix such as “-o” o “-ie”. In this case, Robin could be changed to Rob, Robbo or Robbie. Then consider the demographic to which this park was aimed: little kids.

Finally, consider that many young kids go through various changes in speech patterns, especially as toddlers to say early elementary school (or primary school as it’s known in Australia). A common speech characteristic is to pronounce ‘r’ like ‘w’, which – in rare cases and/or left untreated – can develop into rhotacism. Watch some Sesame Street clips with Baby Bear and you’ll hear what I mean.

Put this all together and you get Robin, who is probably known as Robbie to his friends, being addressed by a little kid that hasn’t worked out how to pronounce the letter “r” … and you get Wobbie. Again, I should stress this is just a hypothesis.

Keep up the great work. To borrow a catchphrase from one of Tony Martin’s later projects … “how good is this!”.

By: Mateusz

Mateusz — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:30:22 +0000

Never went to Wobbies World but grew up in Melbourne and, hence, with all the ads. This is an amazingly well-researched and put-together piece of local history – the fact that it’s by someone not even from Australia makes it all the more so. Really enjoyed reading it.