The big wheel. Melbourne’s drama-plagued observation wheel, the Melbourne Star, has finally met its demise.
Initially called the Southern Star when it opened in 2008, the wheel was described as “the Southern Hemisphere’s only giant observation wheel”. The Melbourne Star opened two years behind schedule, and closed just 40 days later after structural defects were found in the wheel following a heatwave in Melbourne.
That wheel was then scrapped, and replaced with an entirely new wheel on the original support structure. Five years later the Melbourne Star reopened on December 23, 2013 and has been running since.
Now, the Melbourne Star has been spun for the last time, with operators MB Star Properties announced that the site in Melbourne’s Docklands will be permanently closed and the company placed into liquidation.
Vale the big wheel.
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