White elephants

[Silent Alarm]

QE2 Stadium is Brisbane is a shocker. The building under the main grandstand hosts the QAS and Queensland soccer offices, but the stadium itself is the most dilapidated, horrific thing you've ever seen. It gets used about once ever five years for a concert. The complex's only decent use is free parking for uni students and city commuters.

Opened in the mid-70s, it seems to have that Waverley/Football Park idea of putting it out in the suburbs. Looks a terrible location.

Apparently it still holds about 60,000 but the stands are all assortments of ugly. In all honesty, I don't mind the 1970s architecture of the two main stands on the flanks, they can be charming – probably a result of growing in an Australia where, it seems, the 1970s was when most grounds decided to build grandstands. But those ones at the end? They just look temporary. Apparently you have to walk from the very bottom too or from a side or something. I remember reading that on austadiums, it was a total hassle to find your block let alone your seat.

It probably seats about 75,000 for a concert and I could imagine it'd be ludicrously cheap to hire. AAMI Stadium in Adelaide is hosting One Direction next year and the thing I wonder is the upkeep and the staff... do they have people at these old places tidying it up every two months? It's not used, sure, but in 40 year old stadiums surely things are going to fall apart and expose and cause a hassle when a proper crowd comes back in?

It even looked bad for the Commonwealth Games

 

[Silent Alarm]

The other interesting one in Brisbane is Ballymore. It seems to be a bit like the rugby version of the MCG or Subiaco, but now resembling Waverley or Subi in 10 years. They have pre-season games and some administrative rooms there, but it seems a massive waste considering it has no sporting tenant and no more than the odd pre-season game. I remember some A-League fans petitioning to get some low-drawing Roar games there but apparently there's no bus lines, no places to park, and it'd put off even more people than Brisbane - Newcastle Jets usually would...

It actually seems like a nice little ground though, love the banks and the Fremantle Oval-like ad picketing atop it.

 

[Gough]

Ballymore is a victim of union going professional and Lang Park becoming available for Tests.

 

[Brad Goodman]

I saw a Davis Cup Tie, Australia v Russia in 1999, in Brisbane. Was QE2 once called ANZ stadium or is that a different place?

 

[DrVanNostrand]

I saw a Davis Cup Tie, Australia v Russia in 1999, in Brisbane. Was QE2 once called ANZ stadium or is that a different place?

Same place. Now called QSAC. It was ANZ Stadium during the time the Broncos played league there while Brisbane's main rectangular stadium was demolished and redeveloped.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Can I just ask... Davis Cup at a massive stadium that looks like it could potentially squeeze in an Aussie Rules oval?! There is only one Davis Cup right?

 

[Sydney Bloods]

Sadly its not a white elephant, just a piece of shit. Makes plenty of money and get's plenty of use. out of what was 100 years ago nothing more than a swamp and used as rubbish dump ever since.
Now the rest of the precinct that most certainly, is a white elephant.

 

[Wallaby]

Those pictures of the Athens venues are quite stunning.

Are any of the Olympic venues purpose built for the 2004 games actually still used for something?

Apparently the sailing venue is still used.

Mind you, I don't know how much construction work went into ...................... making the sea.

 

[Doss]

Apparently the sailing venue is still used.

Mind you, I don't know how much construction work went into ...................... making the sea.

Atlas did it all with his bare hands.

 

[Wallaby]

There used to be a couple of old warehouse skeletons on the corner of Stud Road and Wellington Road. Looked like giant bird cages. Apparently. some entrepreneur was in the US and saw some form of 'Half-Court Tennis' game, which he was convinced was the greatest thing since sliced bread. He came back to Aus, bought the land and started building.

The Birdcages stood for at least 15 years before being pulled down.

 

[Happy_Neale]

What is this?

Pretty interesting thread. What was the building in Perth a few posters were discussing a few pages back? Looked like a convention centre or something.

 

[Damon_3388]

Can someone please tell me what a 'White Elephant' is?

Chrissie Swan.

 

[Richard Pryor]

What is this?

Pretty interesting thread. What was the building in Perth a few posters were discussing a few pages back? Looked like a convention centre or something.

Started construction of a Crazy Horse version of Mt. Rushmore in 1948. The plan is to turn the mountain into what the statue shows. Unfortunately no permission was sought from Crazy Horse's family at the time, the act of blasting away a mountain to carve out a monument to Crazy Horse is (according to some) against what he himself stood for, and depicting a Native American pointing his finger is similar to depicting George Washington flipping the bird.

The intent to memorialise a notable Native American figure is admirable, but the execution which offends the people it is trying to memorialise makes it a bit of a white elephant. At least in my opinion.

 

[Damon_3388]

I don't think anyone would object to us having seven Tests every summer.

I want to see a seven Test series...











... Against Zimbabwe.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Pretty interesting thread. What was the building in Perth a few posters were discussing a few pages back? Looked like a convention centre or something.

http://www.pcec.com.au/

 

[Brad Goodman]

Can I just ask... Davis Cup at a massive stadium that looks like it could potentially squeeze in an Aussie Rules oval?! There is only one Davis Cup right?

There were temporary grandstands set up around a temporary tennis court, crowd was probably 10,000? This was back when we were regularly contending for the Davis Cup rather than battling for World Group status with the likes of India and Uzbekistan.

 

[Cmarsh]

Looks like the Demons venture into China didn't go so well.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...-footy-dust-bowl/story-fni0fit3-1227053066831

 

[Resistor]

Looks like the Demons venture into China didn't go so well.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...-footy-dust-bowl/story-fni0fit3-1227053066831

Good find, I completely forgot about all of that happening in Tianjin

 

[Cmarsh]

Good find, I completely forgot about all of that happening in Tianjin

...or all that is not happening, by the looks of it.

 

[coach31]

Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria.

Monument to Communism - now looks like a hideout from a Bond movie

http://humanplanet.com/timothyallen/2012/02/buzludzha-buzludja-bulgaria/

 

[Dory_77]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-...giants-promise-space-elevator-by-2050/5756206

Preemptively putting this here.

 

[The_Reaper]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-...giants-promise-space-elevator-by-2050/5756206

Preemptively putting this here.

2050 is a feasible one would imagine.

Plus having a space elevator would be absolutely massive for the first country to get it.

 

[Dory_77]

2050 is a feasible one would imagine.

Plus having a space elevator would be absolutely massive for the first country to get it.

The timeframe is feasible, but its very much an all in or not at all sort of investment. You can't pull out halfway through, it'll have cost you far too much by then; and it can't be a bodge job either. I can definitely see the benefits, but it'd take a very bold and very willing government to see the project through completely.

 

[Scotland]

Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria.
Monument to Communism - now looks like a hideout from a Bond movie

http://humanplanet.com/timothyallen/2012/02/buzludzha-buzludja-bulgaria/

Looks like something from the planet Hoth.