Once-glamorous Australian holiday playgrounds have become eerie ghost resorts, from Clive Palmer’s dinosaur-dotted Coolum resort to abandoned island escapes and a remote casino on Christmas Island.
From Clive Palmer’s bizarre dinosaur park to a remote Indian Ocean casino, some of Australia’s most famous holiday escapes have been left to rot.
They were built as five-star island playgrounds, poolside family escapes and high-roller retreats, but millions of dollars of tourism infrastructure has been reclaimed by nature.
The abandoned resort trail runs from the Sunshine Coast to the Whitsundays, across to Western Australia and out to Christmas Island.
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Queensland dominates the list, with a string of former island resorts and luxury holiday spots sitting in ruins despite being located in some of the country’s most valuable tourism regions.
Some were smashed by cyclones, while others were caught in ownership battles, redevelopment delays or financial collapse.
Together, they show the bizarre fate of holiday playgrounds that once promised paradise.
Palmer Coolum Resort: Sunshine Coast, Queensland
The former Hyatt Regency Coolum was once one of Queensland’s premier five-star resorts before later becoming part of one of Australia’s strangest property sagas. Picture: Nearmap
The former five-star resort closed in 2015, putting 600 staff out of work, with a $150m renovation later flagged for the sprawling estate.
Few former resorts have a backstory as strange as Palmer Coolum Resort.
The former Hyatt Regency Coolum was once one of Queensland’s premier five-star escapes, hosting the Australian PGA Championship and a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
But after Clive Palmer bought the property in 2011, the resort later closed in 2015, putting 600 staff out of work and leaving hundreds of villa shareholders facing years of uncertainty.
The site also became home to Palmersaurus, a dinosaur theme park featuring more than 160 life-size replica dinosaurs across the same grounds where golf champions had once played.
Palmer Coolum Resort once hosted golf champions and international leaders before Palmersaurus brought more than 160 life-size dinosaur replicas to the site.
Kath and Kim’s fourth season also filmed on the resort. Picture: Seven
The golf course remained open, but the wider resort became one of the country’s strangest property sagas, with disputes, legal action, redevelopment plans and years of uncertainty over when the former five-star destination would return.
The resort also had its own pop-culture moment, with Kath & Kim filming its Queensland holiday episode at the then-Hyatt Coolum in 2007.
A $150m renovation has also been flagged for the site, with hundreds of villas, residences, studio units and residential lots proposed across the estate.
Great Keppel Island Resort, Queensland
Great Keppel Island was once one of Queensland’s classic party destinations, famous for its sun, sand and “get wrecked” image.
The old Great Keppel Island resort deteriorated after the 2008 financial crisis, despite sitting in one of Queensland’s most recognisable island tourism locations.
Great Keppel Island was once one of Queensland’s classic party destinations, famous for its sun, sand and “get wrecked” image.
But the old resort deteriorated after the 2008 financial crisis and has remained one of the state’s most frustrating tourism failures, it was demolished in 2018.
Efforts to revive Great Keppel Island have continued over the years, but its ghost-resort status has lingered because of the gap between what the island once was and what it could still become.
The site has since been partially demolished.
Two resorts on the island Holiday Village and Hideaway still operate today.
Great Keppel Island remains one of Australia’s most nostalgic ghost resort stories, with its former holiday playground still waiting for a full revival.
South Molle Island Resort: Whitsundays, Queensland
South Molle Island was once home to Adventure Island Whitsundays, a 188-room resort with multiple pools and a golf course. Picture: Allards Across Oz
China Capital Investment Group bought South Molle Island for $25m in 2016, one year before Cyclone Debbie severely damaged the former resort. Picture: Tripadvisor
South Molle Island was once home to Adventure Island Whitsundays, a resort with 188 rooms, multiple pools and a golf course.
China Capital Investment Group bought South Molle Island in 2016 for $25m, but the former resort was severely damaged by Cyclone Debbie the following year.
The 28 ha island remains on the market, with development potential for a future resort revival.
The 28ha Whitsundays island remains on the market despite sitting in a tourism region attracting about 897,000 visitors and $1.7bn in annual visitor spending. Picture: Allards Across Oz
South Molle sits in one of the country’s most famous tourism regions, surrounded by blue water, national park and islands that continue to attract major investor interest.
Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Ry Collins previously described South Molle as “almost like a jewel in the crown” of the Whitsunday Islands and said the council wanted to see the project reactivated.
The Whitsundays region attracts an estimated 897,000 visitors a year, with visitor spending at $1.7bn.
Double Island Resort, near Palm Cove, Queensland
Double Island was once a luxury hideaway for wealthy holiday-makers and celebrities before years of neglect left the resort deteriorating. Picture: Supplied
Double Island was once a luxury hideaway for wealthy holiday-makers and celebrities.
Positioned off Palm Cove on the Great Barrier Reef, the tropical island had the ingredients most resort developers dream about: rainforest, reef access and privacy close to one of Far North Queensland’s most popular tourism strips.
But after years of neglect, the Queensland Government stripped the former leaseholder of the lease and took back control of the island, before Morris Group secured the long-term lease for a $40m revival in June this year.
Artist renders a $40m planned revitalisation of Double Island off Palm Cove. The lodge will feature 24 luxury villas, a restaurant, sunset bar, report pool and helipad. Picture: Supplied
The Queensland Government took back control of Double Island after the former resort was left to deteriorate for almost a decade. Picture: Supplied
The previous tourism lease required the island to operate as a resort, but the facilities were left deteriorating for almost a decade.
Safety fencing and security cameras were later installed to deter trespassers from entering the rundown site.
Any future operator is expected to remediate the island, remove old infrastructure and preserve its natural features before creating a new tourism offering.
Brampton Island Resort, Mackay region, Queensland
Brampton Island Resort was once a jewel in Queensland’s island tourism crown, but the former holiday escape now remains closed. Picture: Queensland Government
Brampton Island Resort was once another jewel in Queensland’s island tourism crown.
Now, the former resort remains closed, with deteriorating infrastructure and an uncertain future.
The island has been owned by United Petroleum since 2010 and has become one of the most haunting examples of abandoned resort infrastructure on the Great Barrier Reef.
The former Brampton Island Resort has become one of the most haunting examples of abandoned tourism infrastructure on the Great Barrier Reef.
Empty resort buildings, ageing facilities and a beachside pool now mark the site of what was once a tropical island holiday dream.
Images of the site show a once-bustling tropical escape reduced to a shell of itself, with empty resort buildings, ageing facilities and a beachside pool that no longer resembles the luxury holiday dream once promised.
Capricorn Resort, Yeppoon, Queensland
Capricorn Resort is the list’s biggest abandoned resort site.
The former Yeppoon resort closed in 2016 after years of concern about neglected facilities, leaving behind a huge tourism property now known for images of empty buildings and overgrown resort infrastructure.
Capricorn Resort closed in 2016 after years of concern about neglected facilities at the major Yeppoon tourism site.
Unlike smaller island retreats, Capricorn Resort was a major integrated resort with serious scale.
Which is what makes its decline so striking.
The resort was a major coastal Queensland tourist hotspot, yet its empty buildings and overgrown surrounds now give it an eerie, abandoned feel.
El Caballo Blanco Resort, Wundowie, Western Australia
El Caballo Blanco was once famous for dancing horse shows, chairlift rides, water slides and family crowds near Perth.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Spanish-style El Caballo Blanco Resort and theme park near Perth was famous for its dancing horse shows, chairlift rides, water slides and family crowds.
At its peak, it attracted about 250,000 visitors annually.
The riders, costumes, cheering crowds and dancing horses are long gone, but much of the old resort complex remained on site when the property was later marketed for sale.
The 6.5ha resort complex included function spaces, an equestrian arena, amphitheatre, tennis courts, commercial kitchens, motel units and an empty pool.
As of 2026 plans for a new future have since emerged, meaning El Caballo should be framed as a former ghost resort with revival potential rather than a permanently abandoned site.
Christmas Island Casino and Resort
Christmas Island Casino and Resort once targeted wealthy gambling tourists from Asia before closing in 1998.
The remote casino resort had 156 guest rooms, several restaurants, nightclubs and a swimming pool during its peak.
Before Christmas Island became better known nationally for other reasons, it was home to a casino resort that targeted high rollers from Asia.
With Jakarta only about an hour’s flight away, the resort was built around the idea of attracting wealthy gambling tourists from Indonesia and the wider region.
The complex had 156 guest rooms, several restaurants, nightclubs and a swimming pool, with hundreds of staff working on site during its peak.
The former high-roller casino dream became one of Australia’s strangest ghost resort stories after the Asian financial crisis.
For a brief period in the 1990s, it became one of the most unusual resort stories connected to Australia.
But the Asian financial crisis hit, the casino closed in 1998, and the site became one of several abandoned buildings on the remote island.
Additional reporting by Sophie Foster, Henry Johnstone, Danielle Cahil
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