In May 2006, Sydney Aquarium announced plans to expand the existing aquarium site, in order to incorporate a wildlife park. Following this announcement, and after the acquisition of the tourist attractions at Sydney Tower and of Manly Oceanarium, Sydney Aquarium changed its name to Sydney Attractions Group. Village Roadshow purchased Sydney Attractions Group in late 2007.[4] UK attractions group Merlin Entertainments bought Sydney Wildlife World as part of its acquisition of Village Roadshow assets in March 2011.
The park changed its name to Wild Life Sydney and re-opened on 13 September 2011.
The attraction was named the best family-focused tourism at The Australian's 2007 Travel and Tourism Awards.[5]
Design
Construction began in November 2004 on the site, and was completed in August 2006. Wild Life Sydney is unusual for a zoo or wildlife park in that the public areas are almost entirely enclosed and air-conditioned. The A$52million development features a 1 kilometre (0.62mi) walkway which snakes through 7,000 square metres (75,000sqft) of enclosures.[citation needed]
The upper level exhibits are open-air, enclosed only by a large stainless steel mesh roof structure supported by curved beams, which were designed to look like the ribs of the rainbow serpent of Aboriginal myth when viewed from above. This open-air feature has enabled the exhibits to be landscaped naturally with live plants, including full-sized trees. The largest exhibit is the 800-square-metre (8,600sqft) semi-arid habitat of kangaroo walkabout, featuring 250 tonnes (280 short tons) of red sand trucked in from central Australia and full-sized bottle trees. This habitat houses Kangaroo Island kangaroos, echidnas, a quokka and koalas.
Exhibits
Wild Life Sydney Zoo is divided into ten zones, containing the following exhibits:
