The Carousel at Melbourne’s Luna Park (formally known as PTC#30) is the 30th carousel machine made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) in Pennsylvania, USA and was built in 1913. Like a giant puzzle, the huge carousel complete with cast iron machinery and hundreds of timber parts set sail from the US in October 1913 and arrived in Sydney, Australia in November, 1913.
- PTC#30 came to Luna Park Melbourne in 1923, where it has remained ever since and is fondly remembered by many generations of Melburnians.
- PTC#30’s two Roman chariots bear out the Carousel’s theme War and Peace.
- The chariots were originally fitted with wooden shafts which connected each chariot with its two leading horses.
In 2001, during the restoration of the Carousel, the wooden shafts were reconstructed to the original design using archival photos taken in 1913; with the work carried out by Equus Art Pty Ltd and International Conservation Services.
- Three of the overhead panels on the carousel are pictured above: ‘On the Scent’ ‘Breakfast Time‘ and ‘Gypsy‘.
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