In 1988, the World's fair was hosted by Australia's third largest city Brisbane, in Queensland. The $625 million fair, held on a 98-acre site on the south bank of the Brisbane River, was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on April 30th, 1988, and was the largest event of the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations in Australia, attracting more than 18 million visitors.
World Expo '88 was an amazing six months between April 30th and October 30th 1988, running on the theme of "Leisure in the Age of Technology."
Peter Venn from the Queensland Sporting Hovercraft Club, thought hovercraft would be ideally suited for the 'Leisure in the Age of Technology' theme, and set about organising hovercraft joyrides to be run along the Brisbane River for the duration of Expo. A hovercraft suitable for the job was designed with the help of Owen Ellis, and a fleet of four craft built by Peter and his brother Danny.
During the six months of Expo, these hovercraft were giving joy rides 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, carrying a total of 138,581 passengers - that means for six months, someone was stepping onto a hovercraft every 55 seconds. If these people were lined up in a single file, the queue would extend for over 70 kilometres.
13 Yamaha 50hp two stroke engines were worn out during this period, but the crew had engine
replacement down to a fine art, and a hovercraft would be back on the water in 15 minutes after
engine failure. Replacing the fan was a regular occurance, but this was only a 3 minute job.
Changing passengers was even quicker. From the time a craft left the water to the time it returned
to the water with a new set of passengers, less than 20 seconds had passed - 30 seconds if the
stop included refueling. This was a frenzied and chaotic, but very exciting six months.
Click on the thumbnails to the left to see photos of the Hovercraft Joyrides during Expo 88.