On 9 February 1946, a fifty-foot wall of water carrying huge cedar logs engulfed “the most interesting playground in Queensland”—Paronella Park—a Moorish Castle built in tropical rainforest on the banks of Mena Creek. A stormy sea of water tossed logs as if they were matchsticks and battered the castle. When the water dispersed the dream of Catalonian migrant José Paronella lay in ruins. Demonstrating the resilience needed in tropical Queensland, Paronella Park has risen from its ruins more than once and is today an award-winning tourist destination despite the floods and cyclones that regularly threaten it with destruction.
