Richard Cooke

Richard Cooke is Contributing Editor to The Monthly magazine. His work has appeared in many publications in Australia and internationally, and been selected for the Best Australian Essays series. His debut book, on the role of place in twentieth-century literature, will be published by Black Inc. in 2018.

All essays by Richard Cooke

Writing Place Essay: Richard Cookeon Luna Park

Hellfire

There is not much of Martin’s vision left at Luna Park. A memorial to the fire victims mysteriously disappeared during a refurbishment in 2003. Up some stairs, where the Big Dipper used to be, there is now a mural in front of an uninviting courtyard where no-one sits. It is a trompe l’oeil, showing the scaffolding of the absent Dipper, like the skeleton of an extinct vertebrate, and in front of it, painted on a fusebox, is a variant of the Sharp Face. It looks ugly and sour though. There is something wrong with it, with its expression.