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Fiona's passion for Big Splash is real

18 0
22.03.2026

Fiona Robinson has been one of the warriors in the fight to keep open the Big Splash water park in Macquarie.

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"Along with my daughter, Big Splash is one of my big loves," she said.

And she knows what she's talking about.

Fiona worked at Big Splash, on and off, for 20 years, including as duty manager.

She's a no-nonsense, plain-talking, passionate advocate for the water park.

She's not above going to the now-derelict water park and yelling at trespassers to get out and then calling the police.

She's trying her best to save the water park from further destruction. Someone has to.

Fiona's biggest cringe is reading comments from armchair experts suggesting Big Splash can't make money or that its slides are doomed. She doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

For the record, Fiona says when she was working there, Big Splash was "very profitable".

"[Former owners] the Watkins were very smart business people and Mrs Watkins was the hardest worker I have ever seen," she said.

Fiona doubts the eight slides and four plant rooms have all spontaneously reached their use-by date. They all need to be checked by an engineer. She believes they are salvageable.

The most sensible option, she believes, would be for someone with experience running public pools, like the Sarri family, to take on Big Splash.

That means Access Canberra or the Planning Authority or the government having the gumption to cancel the lease now held by Translink Management Group, or, at least the private lenders who have since taken possession of the water park.

There will need to be a clean-up, but Fiona doesn't believe the water park needs some grandiose redevelopment.

"The facility can largely stay as it is," she said.

"It's refurbish, not redevelop. People are on the wrong train of thought.

"These people with their redesign ideas, don't consider that there are massive pits, taller than a dive tower, in the ground called balance tanks and you cannot move them.

"Further redesign would also have to be minimal due to piping but also capacity - you cannot take away areas for people to sit in to put in more features.

"It's been frustrating to see people try and redesign the waterpark who don't have a clue about designing waterparks as it's distracting from saving what exists."

Fiona has documented trespassers breaking into Big Splash at least four times since last Sunday, March 15, when adult skateboaders broke into the water park and skated in the empty pools, including high school students and kids on electric scooters.

A lot of commentators were supportive of the skateboarders.

It seemed like they were vicariously living through them to achieve some kind of street cred. It was kind of pathetic. In the meantime, the concrete in the pools was being damaged by the boards.

The adults were acting illegally.They shouldn't have been in there. It didn't seem to worry anyone that one young man risked death or injury by climbing on to the roof of the main twister slide. So cool, right?

In the meantime, how many chances does the owner of Big Splash get? The site is not being run as an aquatic facility. It's not open to the public in summer. Its fence does not keep out trespassers.

The owner is probably thrilled by the constant vandalism - more reason to never re-open and put up units instead. Take away the lease. Give it to someone with the experience to get Big Splash open by summer.

And do yourself a favour - give Fiona a call. She's the real expert.

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