Queensland, Australia
Queensland
Day : June 6, 1988
Agreement
to participate : 20 May 1985
Commissioner : Mr Fred Maybury
Pavilion
: 4400 square metres
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Street performers with the Queensland Pavilion at World Expo '88: Image Courtesy of the Gabriel Collection
The curved Pavilion façade featured a variety of images pertaining to
the State - which revolved in tandem every few minutes. The image shown
here is of the Flag of the State.
The
Queensland Pavilion, being the more than equal partner with Australia
of the task of 'flagship pavilion,' wowed the crowds with it's
themed-ride through outback, urban and rainforest Queensland,
and undoubtedly was one of the most popular and most visited pavilions
on the expo site.
Visitors
were asked to enter specially designed transport pods which carried
people 50-a-time through the pavilion in air-conditioned
comfort, and were told the story of this modern and proud state, via
eight themed diorama theatrettes - most memorably including a visit to
a corrugated-tin roofed verandah of a Queensland 'outback' pub,
where mannequin bush narrators with 'talking' television heads
humourously shared anecdotes about life in the 'sunshine state'; a
journey amongst the rich green foliage of a north tropical rainforest
where animatronic sulfur-crested cockatoos joined in the debate and
rainforest snakes hissed at surprised passersby; and finally, a view of
the globe and state from an inter-planetary space
station, where Queensland's ambitions for the space race in the
proposed Cape York International Space Port, in the State's deep
north, were noted - then transporting one back to 1988 Expo Queensland,
just in time to purchase unique Queensland souvenirs from the
Pavilion's 'Sunmap' Shop.
The
$AUD 16
million dollar Pavilion also looked over the River Stage, and featured
a white curved exterior, featuring the "Join the Spirit" logo
of the Pavilion (as noted below), and a rotating information board of
images of
the more familiar symbols of State - flora and fauna - as well as the
State Flag (as noted above). The popular Pavilion theme song 'Come,
Join the Spirit!', was composed by famous locals Frank Millward and
Carol
Lloyd - who also composed the official theme song of World
Expo '88 - 'Together, We'll Show the World."
The Pavilion is also well remembered for it's faux multi-level tropical rainforest foyer, which hosted the Expo Monorail.
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Stamp Logo image Courtesy of the Gabriel Collection
Technical Details Fact Sheet - Official Queensland Pavilion World Expo 88 Pamphlet
References:
Report
of the Commissioner-General of Expo 88 on the Australian Government's
Involvement in Expo '88 (1988), Published by Office of the
Commissioner-General of World Expo '88
Showing
Off: Queensland at World Expositions 1862-1988 (2004), Author Dr Judith
McKay, Published by Central Queensland University Press and the
Queensland Museum
Queensland: Share the Spirit! Official Pavilion Pamphlet
The Gabriel Collection
World Expo '88 - The Official Souvenir Program (1988), Editor Andrew Cowell, Published by Australian Consolidated Press
Expo! an independent Review (1988), Written by Scott Jones, David Bray, Juanita Phillips, Published by Boolarong Publications