The show rolls on

Docklands has a new centre of comedy, burlesque and acrobatics, with a new spiegeltent now open to the public at Wonderland Fun Park.

Wonderland Fun Park owners Colin Davis and Melissa Head imported the Salon Elegénce spiegeltent from Belgium, after Circus Oz reclaimed its Melba Spiegeltent.

The tent was shipped from Antwerp in a 44-foot high shipping container, arriving in Docklands last month.

Ms Head and Mr Davis also brought out some help from Belgium to assist with the construction of the spiegeltent on-site.

Gerry Klessen and Jonas De Beuckelaer were on-hand to ensure the spiegeltent was put up correctly.  

Mr Klessen is a fifth-generation member of the Klessen family, who built the Salon Elegénce and have been building and restoring spiegeltents for more than a century.

It was a race against the clock to ensure the spiegeltent was ready in time, with the Wonderland Carnivale kicking off just a week after it arrived.

Luckily, the physical construction of the spiegeltent took just two days, with the fit-out complete before the opening night of the Wonderland Carnivale on March 27.

“Our spiegeltent is one of the only ones in Australia with a home base,” Mr Davis said. “Most of the others come in from overseas for the festival season,” he said.

Ms Head said she was excited about the potential opportunities the new spiegeltent presented for the park and for Docklands.

She said the large foyer provided an undercover area for the fun park during the day, a bar area while shows were running and could potentially become an exhibition space.