Big Splash owners in Canberra plan to open a restaurant — ABC News Australia
The owners of the dilapidated Big Splash water park in Canberra, Australia, said they plan to open an unlicensed family restaurant on the site by November. This is intended to meet the land lease conditions, while the prospects for restoring the water park itself remain uncertain, ABC News Australia reports.
Big Splash in the Macquarie district of northern Canberra was originally a public swimming pool. In the 1990s, it was bought by a family and turned into a water park with slides. After a change of owners, the facility fell into disrepair over recent years. The water park was closed in 2024 and was due to reopen in November 2025, but the lessee explained the failure to meet those plans by rising repair costs.
Lease conditions and the authorities’ position
The 13,000-square-metre site is leased by Translink Management Group. The terms of the 99-year lease require a water facility, an indoor sports complex, or an unlicensed family restaurant to operate there. The company signed the agreement in 2021, and the relevant provisions have remained unchanged.
The Australian Capital Territory government confirmed that the lessee had sought to change the site’s zoning for residential development. The authorities rejected the idea, saying they do not plan to change the area’s recreational designation.
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Regulator Access Canberra may issue a controlled activity order, the breach of which carries a fine of up to A$48,600, or terminate the lease. In April, the regulator declined to act on its previous threat to terminate the lease, as it considered the owners’ steps sufficient to open a 50-metre pool by the following summer. The ACT government later said it feared that the latest deadline for restoring the pool would not be met.
Sale of the facility and food truck
Big Splash was put up for sale in June. According to ABC News Australia, no acceptable offer was received during the expressions-of-interest process, so the facility remains available for purchase. At the same time, a sale would not guarantee that a new owner would restore the water park.
Access Canberra chief Josh Rinehart confirmed that a food truck on the complex grounds could be a temporary way to meet the lease conditions. ABC News Australia also reports that a builder has been engaged and a deposit paid for the restaurant fit-out.
