We heard about the ruins of a Spanish Castle in North Queensland from some other travellers and were immediately intrigued.
But how do I describe this place and the magic of its history?
The short story is….. (this may be the longest short story you ever read)
Jose Paronella was born in Spain in 1887. From childhood he had a dream to own his own Spanish Castle. As he got older his dream was to incorporate pleasure grounds, ballroom, restaurant, theatre, tennis courts, boating on a lake, and lots more. He wanted to entice people to come from all over the world to visit his beautiful castle and gardens.
In 1913 he came to Australia, worked hard for eleven years making his fortune starting out as a cane cutter, then a cook, then buying run down sugar cane farms, doing them up and selling them at a profit.
He found the perfect land for his castle and pleasure grounds in North Queensland. Thirteen acres of rainforest beside Mena Creek falls.
He returned to Spain for a bride and honeymooned all over Europe gathering ideas for the castle and pleasure grounds.
