Aussie sites to see before they disappear
An AAP report says that an Art Deco theatre in Adelaide, Sydney’s Luna Park and the underground homes of Coober Pedy have made it into a book of 500 places to see before they disappear.
Frommer’s 500 Places To See Before They Disappear, recently published in Australia and due to be released in the UK early next month, lists sites most at risk from developers and climate change.
Author Holly Hughes said she discovered more positive developments while writing the book than she expected.
“At the outset, I feared that this project would be infinitely depressing,” she writes in the foreword.
“Many of the case studies in this book are reasons for hope, not despair, and the more support we can lend them, the better.”
She lists the Capri Theatre with its Wurlitzer organ in the inner Adelaide suburb of Goodwood among 10 classic movie palaces that have “escaped the wrecking ball”.
Of Luna Park, she says: “No child who has ever walked into Luna Park, through the grotesque gaping grin of the face, could fail to be wowed.”
The sites join the Daintree Rainforest, Fraser Island, the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu National Park among 21 Australian listings in the book.
The whole of Tasmania also features, with attention drawn to the endangered Tasmanian Devil.
“Many unique species thrive in Tasmania, one of the world’s most unusual ecosystems,” Hughes says.
“However, increasing development, including logging, mining and other industries, threaten many of the island’s most beautiful places.”
UK sites featured include the Tower of London and Greenwich Maritime Museum, which are both at risk from rising ocean levels which could lead the Thames to flood its banks.
Hughes also urges a visit to Kentish Town, north London, to visit Little Green Street, one of the last intact Georgian streets in the city.
“It survived the Blitz, but the inexorable march of gentrification is another thing altogether,” she says.
Sites from elsewhere in the world include the pyramids of Giza, threatened by urban sprawl, the southern Florida Everglades ecosystem degenerating under agriculture and development and the Dead Sea, which Hughes says could dry up “thanks to the diverting of the rivers that feed it”.
Australian listings in new guidebook Frommer’s 500 Places To See Before They Disappear:
Capri Theatre, SA
Coober Pedy, SA
Daintree Rainforest, Qld
Dampier Rock Art Complex, WA
Fraser Island, Qld
Gold Coast, Qld
Great Barrier Reef, Qld
Kakadu National Park, NT
Kangaroo Island, SA
Kuranda Village, Qld
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, NSW
Lord Howe Island
Luna Park, NSW
The Mabi Forest, Qld
Mission Beach, Qld
Purnululu National Park, WA
Shark Bay, WA
Tasmania
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, NT
Warrumbungle National Park, NSW
Wollemi National Park, NSW
A Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
TAP Air Portugal to operate 29 flights due to strike on December 11
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Air Mauritius reduces frequencies to Europe and Asia for the holiday season
Major rail disruptions around and in Berlin until early 2026