Peter Garrett remembers Brisbane's Cloudland clearly and its loss is something he still feels to this day.
It was 30 years ago today that Brisbane woke up to the remains of the truly iconic ballroom that had captured the imagination of three waves of young music fans and dancers.
Garrett's Midnight Oil song Dreamworld was Australian rock's angriest lament to a building that won hearts from successive generations of ballroom dancers, bodgies, widgies and rock fans.
"I can remember very clearly the first time we played at Cloudland," Garrett, now the federal government minister for school education, recalls.
"We had seen it on top of the hill, we had heard about it, but nothing prepared us for that first impression of getting in to this amazing building and just saying, 'wow'.
"It was very different to where we had been playing before and it had so much atmosphere and it was such a fantastic building to play in.
"And also, it was a great place to come and listen to bands."
For my generation, it was where we saw the best of the best of bands from overseas.
We saw The Clash play London Calling and Echo and Bunnymen loom as the most influential bands of their time.
We saw Madness skank, the Cure sulk, Ian Drury and the Blockheads hit us with their rhythm stick and we spun 360 degrees watching the Stray Cats strut.
We saw the big three Australian bands – Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and The Angels – as headliners, plus a swag of "first drop" bands, often as support, then Australia's best emerging bands.
Before them, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Johnny O'Keefe and the Bee Gees played the famous venue.
Cloudland was originally to be Brisbane's own Luna Park in 1939, but was commandeered by US General Douglas MacArthur for his forces based in Brisbane.
But it was spring-floor that delighted the generations, making jitterbuggers and ballroom dancers as light as a feather and rock fans bounce a metre high as they rocked to a Steve Prestwich or Rob Hirst snare crash.
It was our dreamworld.
"It had beautiful promenades and arches and a raised verandah outside," Garrett said.
"On top of the hill, so the view you had was across the whole of Brisbane, across the whole of the city.
"As well as that it had an upstairs mezzanine area that you could go upstairs and look down on to the dance floor and at the bands.
"It was just absolutely chock-a-block with atmosphere, heritage and history."
And then, at 4am on November 7, 1982, the Deen Brothers crushed the dreams of three generations at the request of the Bjelke-Petersen government.
By lunchtime, that dreamworld lay in concrete rubble, to eventually be replaced by apartments.
The reality was that, despite Cloudland being listed with the National Trust, it was simply not protected, much like the Bellevue Hotel that was demolished in 1979.
A decade after Cloudland's bulldozers moved in, Queensland got its first Queensland Heritage Register in 1992, with bipartisan report, when new Labor premier Wayne Goss set up a heritage committee.
The Queensland Heritage Register offers protection, to varying degrees, to the buildings, places and curious things that create the atmosphere of Queensland.
There are more than 1670 buildings and places on Queensland's Heritage Register, each on included after a vote by heritage specialists from the Queensland Heritage Council.
There have been failures – controversy followed the destruction of Brisbane's Festival Hall and the partial demolition of the Regent Theatre – but a process is in place.
Eyes are now on what the state government allows to happen to the old State Library Building on William Street, which one casino operator has eyed off as a potential high-rise hotel, a proposal that so far has been met with disapproval from the Newman government.
On Friday, three of the most important heritage sites in Queensland's history will come before the Queensland Heritage Council.
They will vote whether to include the three boundary markers of the state of Queensland, at the junctions with the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales.
These surveyor marks, known as Poeppel's Corner, Haddon's Corner and Cameron's Corner, date back to the 1880s.
Also to be considered is the 105-year-old Kingaroy Butter Factory.
Earlier this year, incoming Environment and Heritage Minister Andrew Powell said wanted to make changes to the Queensland Heritage Council.
"We know there are a number of passionate people in the community who value the role of the Queensland Heritage Council and the work it does," Mr Powell said.
"For this reason, I called for expressions of interest earlier this year from people who may be interested in being members of the Heritage Council who may not have been involved before."
Mr Powell said these changes will be in place by next month.
"The process to refresh the membership of the Queensland Heritage Council is under way and should be concluded by mid- December," he said.
“While there are no current plans to review the Queensland Heritage Act 1992, I am always happy to take advice from the Queensland Heritage Council on the ways in which the current Act is administered or enforced."
Mr Powell is aware the community is looking to see exactly who is nominated to the Queensland Heritage Council and knows there is a perception developers will be favoured.
"But I assure you that the Newman government and the Queensland Heritage Council will work closely and inclusively with the community, to ensure our State's heritage receives the prominence and standing it deserves."
The Queensland Heritage Council will also vote to add the following landmarks to the heritage register:
- Bowen State School;
- the JC Hubinger Memorial Hall in Cardwell;
- the Daintree Inn in Mossman;
- the Ed Miles Mining Exchange building in Charters Towers;
- the Bank of New South Wales in Charters Towers;
- Myall Park Botanic Garden in Glenmorgan;
- the Shepherd Memorial Church in Proston;
- Murgon Civic Centre;
- Murgon's South Burnett Co-operative Dairy Factory; and
- the Kingaroy Shire Council chambers in Kingaroy.
How ironic that, in 2012, a building in Kingaroy – the home of the man who oversaw the destruction of Cloudland 30 years ago – may be protected by legislation spurred by the midnight demolition raid of 1982.
