Paronella Park

Paronella Park is a heritage-listed tourist attraction set in the tropical rainforest beside Mena Creek Falls, about 120 kilometres south of Cairns on the road to Mission Beach. It was built single-handedly between 1929 and 1935 by Jose Paronella, a Spanish immigrant from Catalonia who arrived in Australia in 1913 and spent years working on sugar cane farms in the Innisfail district before buying 5 hectares of rainforest on Mena Creek and beginning to build his dream.

Jose's dream was to create a pleasure garden with a grand castle, a theatre, tennis courts, a swimming pool fed by the waterfall, a tunnel through the rock, formal gardens and a hydroelectric power plant to light the entire park with electricity at a time when most of the surrounding district had none. He built almost everything himself, using concrete mixed with local creek sand and aggregate, and the construction is remarkable for its ambition and its handmade character.

The castle was completed in 1935 and Jose opened the park to the public, charging a small admission fee. It became a popular weekend destination for locals and remained in the Paronella family for decades. Cyclones, floods and fires took their toll over the years, and by the late 20th century much of the park was in ruins, with the rainforest growing over and through the concrete structures.

The current owners, Mark and Judy Evans, purchased the park in 1993 and have since stabilised the ruins, restored the grounds and developed the park into one of the most visited attractions in the Tropical North. The guided night tour, which illuminates the ruins and the waterfall with coloured lights, is the signature experience and creates an atmosphere that is part fairy tale and part ghost story. The daytime tour tells the full Paronella story, from Jose's arrival in Australia to the park's decline and restoration.

The park includes a camping ground and cabin accommodation for overnight visitors, and the darkness after hours makes it an excellent spot for tropical wildlife spotting, including platypus in Mena Creek and numerous frog and insect species. Paronella Park is open daily year-round and is best combined with a visit to the Mena Creek Falls viewing platform and the surrounding Wooroonooran National Park.