Big Splash water park now opens Sundays only with street food vendor
Big Splash operates a street food vendor on Sundays to comply with its lease.
Big Splash water park in Canberra, closed since March 2024, now has a street food vendor appearing every Sunday. The site's financiers took possession when the original owner's loan was not repaid.
The financiers hired the vendor to meet Access Canberra's lease deadline. The Crown lease requires either an aquatic centre or an unlicensed family restaurant.
Access Canberra credited the lenders for spending close to $400,000 in 2026 on fencing, rubbish removal, pool pumping, cleaning, and safety work. A deadline to reopen the outdoor pool by November 1 was set by the original owner and has passed.
The lenders said reopening costs far exceeded what a small business could afford. The site remains closed to swimmers for its third consecutive summer.
- March 2024
- Initial closure date
- close to 400,000 dollars
- Lenders' spending in 2026
- November 1
- Lease compliance date
- 3
- Consecutive summers closed
Why it mattersLease compliance can be met with minimal operations; this suggests Big Splash is unlikely to reopen as a functioning water park without government intervention.
AustraliaCanberrans will continue to have no public water park this summer; the government is considering buying the site to restore it as a public facility but has not yet committed to the cost.
