{"id":1410,"date":"2022-09-29T06:09:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T06:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/?p=1410"},"modified":"2022-09-29T06:09:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T06:09:56","slug":"the-banana-bowl-caravan-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/2022\/09\/the-banana-bowl-caravan-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The Banana Bowl Caravan Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a previous post describing the jewels of the Coffs Coast<\/a>, there was mention of the Banana Bowl Caravan Park inaugurated by the Hill family. The Caravan Park was situated in Korora – a local word which means “the crash of the waves” or “the roar of the sea”. It was also very near to Pine Brush Creek, flowing through coastal rainforest, named for large hoop\u00a0 and other pine trees.<\/p>\n

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Banana Bowl Caravan Park, 1960s; Photographer Desmond Eeley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Caravan Park was opened on 22 December 1960, and John Hill<\/a> was appointed the first manager:\"\"New big caravan park opens The Coffs Harbour Advocate 21 December 1960, p.1<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the view, the road sign leading down to the beach worked very hard to entice the public into the holiday park:<\/p>\n

… An ultra modern caravan park and camping area is below you on the beach front beside the lake …. Hot Showers\u00a0 Septic toilets\u00a0 Laundry\u00a0 Washing machines\u00a0 Power\u00a0 Ice & a fully stocked shop are at your disposal …. Safe swimming Diving Board Ponies & Canoes are free for the children …. Outside beach rock and spear fishing are easily accessible from here while there are many estuaries in the area for the enthusiasts …. All sports are available to you and many scenic drives and walks are within the area …. Visitors are invited to drive through the plantation where fresh banana bunches or hands may be inspected<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The Banana Bowl, 1960s; Photographer Desmond Eeley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was possible to stay at the Beach prior to 1960 when the Caravan Park formally opened. The locals loved to have their Christmas parties here and they became a regular event. In December 1956, more than 1,000 people including 600 children were guests of the Ex-Services’ Club.<\/p>\n

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The RSL’s Christmas picnic at Hill’s Beach, mus07-11349 in Coffs Collections at https:\/\/coffs.recollect.net.au\/nodes\/view\/53544<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These photographs exemplify the ongoing popularity of the Banana Bowl: \"\"The Banana Bowl, 1960s; Photographer Desmond Eeley<\/span>\"\"The Banana Bowl, 1960s; Photographer Desmond Eeley<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the obvious attraction, the Caravan Park was only to survive for a relatively short time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a previous post describing the jewels of the Coffs Coast, there was mention of the Banana Bowl Caravan Park inaugurated by the Hill family. The Caravan Park was situated in Korora – a local word which means “the crash of the waves” or “the roar of the sea”. It was also very near to … Continue reading “The Banana Bowl Caravan Park”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}