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Paronella Park Spanish Castle in Rain Forest photo by Sheba_Also 43,000 photos –

Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Paronella Park

Historic attractions are not what you鈥檇 expect to find in the middle of North Queensland鈥檚 Sugar and Banana farm country, yet Paronella parks鈥� decaying castle. Set amongst beautiful tropical gardens with a waterfall and a lake is a beautiful tropical garden with a waterfall and lake, is a delightful hidden treasure that is well worth a visit.

Paronella Park is a heritage-listed tourist attraction located at Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia, 120 kilometres south of Cairns. Its immense natural beauty on the five hectares of land features two cascading waterfalls, exotic rainforest plants and majestic trees of the forests.

It has a distinct architectural design and layout and the undulating paths and bridges are organized in a 鈥渇ive ways鈥� design. The paths wind through heritage gardens and 13 acres of lush Australian rainforest situated on the banks of the crystal clear waters of Mena Creek, south of Innisfail.

The ruins of the Spanish Castilo feature prominently on the grounds of Paronella park, as do other distinctive structures. Paronella Park has been designed in such a way to provide unusual and somewhat secretive vistas of Mena creek falls.

At regular intervals, guests can see through the dense tropical foliage and glimpse the glittering, cascading waters of the falls. Here are the top 10 astonishing facts about Paronella park.

1. The Park was built by an immigrant

Jose Paronella at Age 34 photo sourced from

Paronella Park was designed and built between 1929 and 1935 by Jose虝 Pedro Enrique Paronella, a visionary with a distinct style and architectural flair who was a Spanish immigrant. Formerly a pastry chef from Catalonia in northern Spain, Pedro set sail to Australia in 1913 after hearing there was plenty of work going on in Sydney’s emergent railways.

Paronella worked hard for 11 years creating his wealth by buying, improving and selling cane farms. While travelling through the beautiful countryside he discovered a virgin forest alongside spectacular Mena creek falls, the perfect location for his dream.

By 1929 he had purchased the land and inspired by childhood memories of Catalan castles, Paronella and his workers set to work designing an entertainment area. Their fingerprints on the cement foundations remain a testament to their extraordinary effort.

2. Paronella parkland was purchased for only 拢120 

Paronella Park NQ photo by Sheba_Also 43,000 photos –

Paronella park might be priceless moneywise in the present day but can you believe the land where it sits was purchased for 拢120. Jose first saw this 13 acre of virgin scrub along Mena Creek in 1914 and by 1929 he went ahead and purchased the land that he, later on, built the Paronella park.

Inspired by memories of Catalonia castles in his homeland, he started to build his pleasure gardens and reception centre for the enjoyment of the public.

3. The park took six years to be publicly accessible

‘Paronella Park’ castle at Mena Creek, Queensland, 1948. photo by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.- Wikimedia commons

Immediately after purchasing the 13 acres of scrubland around Mena Creek, just outside the Innisfail region in 1929, with his wife by his side, Pedro began to build a beautiful castle and grounds. This labour of love and unswerving determination took until 1935 to complete before it was officially opened to the public.

Complete with a castle, theatre, foyer, fountains and more, the theatre showed movies every Saturday night. As the park was situated off the old highway, it drew in thousands of tourists, Pedro also planted 7000 trees around the park to highlight the features of the rainforest.

In addition, with canvas chairs removed, the hall was a favourite venue for parties and dances.

4. Paronella parks鈥� first structure was a staircase

Paronella Park NQ photo by Sheba_Also 43,000 photos –

After the purchase of the land, Pedro first built the grand 47-step staircase. The main purpose of the staircase was to shift building materials between the lower and upper levels. Here, the couple had their cottage hand built of stone and moved in on the eve of Christmas.

5. It runs on a hydroelectric plant of its kind

Paronella at Night photo by Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA –

Being North Queensland鈥檚 first hydroelectric plant, it was installed by Pedro in 1933 to power the 13 acres park. While the park used a fair amount of electricity daily, from powering the spotlights during the darkness falls tour. The energy is 100% carbon neutral.

Although the hydro plant was out of action for several years during the park鈥檚 renovations, it was fully restored in 2009 to provide power to run the park and the adjoining caravan park and cabins

6. The park boasts of its waterfalls

Paronella Park, Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia. photo by Steven Penton from Bakers Beach, Tasmania Australia –

There is a 1.5-meter single-drop waterfall inside the park. While the falls may be slightly similar to other Queensland waterfalls like Barron falls, the waterfalls at Mena Creek are just as spectacular a sight.

Walking over the suspended bridge, the sight of water cascading over seven鈥搈illion鈥搚ear鈥搊ld basalt rock makes you appreciate how impressive the waterfall would have been as a backdrop to the nearly built castle as guests spun around the dance floor.

Jose also created a small waterfall and named it after his daughter, Theresa.

7. The park鈥檚 castle had a ballroom for partying

The cane farmers from the local community used to party at the park. The hall was a favourite venue for dances and parties.

A unique feature was the myriad reflector, a great ball covered with 1270 tiny mirrors, suspended from the ceiling with spotlights of pink and blue shining on the reflector from the corners of the hall, it was rotated slowly, producing a coloured snow flare effect around the walls, floor and ceiling.

8. Paronella Park was abandoned for 15 years

Paronella Park from the top of Mena Creek Falls, Innisfail. photo by Queensland State Archives –

Pedro passed on in 1948 leaving his wife Margherita as the sole owner of the park. With huge cyclones and floods sweeping through the park over the years, it became increasingly difficult to rebuild and keep the spark alive. In 1977 the park was sold and a couple of years later a fire nearly burnt down the castle. 

It was left untouched for nearly 15 years until an Australian couple, Mark and Judy Evans with their three kids stumbled upon it. Locals thought they were mad for wanting to buy a derelict, crumbling old tourist park at the time, but they knew as soon as they saw it how much potential it had.

The park was open for the people to access and visit Paronella鈥檚 achievement in 1993.

9. Paronella park survived many disasters throughout time

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on

The park has survived more than just fire, cyclones and floods during its 87-year history.

The first of these disasters happened during the wet season of 1946, when a pile of logs and branches from a creek upstream broke a nearby railway bridge, causing a cascade of water to flood the park and damage the refreshment rooms, and theatre, foyer and hydro plant.

10. The park has received multiple awards 

On tourism awards, Paronella Park has received multiple Queensland tourism awards, the park is state and national heritage listed and is a national trust listed the property.

In 2004, the park was named Queensland鈥檚 premier significant attraction by Queensland Tourism. It was also a joint winner in the 鈥淓merging Business鈥� category of the Reconciliation Awards for Business (2004). Awarded by the Queensland Government.

The park was also voted the number one 鈥淢UST DO鈥� in the RACQ 150 must-do competition in 2009.