Clive Palmer's T-Rex destroyed by fire

Fire has destroyed a nine-metre dinosaur named Jeff at Clive Palmer's Coolum Resort on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Clive Palmer poses for a photograph in front of Jeff the dinosaur at the Palmer Resort in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. (AAP)

Clive Palmer poses for a photograph in front of Jeff the dinosaur at the Palmer Resort in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. (AAP)

Queensland politician Jeff Seeney's namesake, a nine-metre animatronic T-Rex, has been destroyed by fire at Clive Palmer's Coolum Resort.

"Jeff" was reported alight in the middle of the night.

Fire crews extinguished the fire in 20 minutes in the early hours of Tuesday morning but were unable to save Jeff, whose extinction is being blamed on an electrical fault.

Only his skeleton remains.

Mr Palmer reportedly named the T-Rex after former deputy premier Jeff Seeney, with whom he had many public disagreements on policies and politics.

At the time of his installation three years ago, Mr Palmer tweeted a photo of the dinosaur with the comment: "Meet 'Jeff' ... he's big, grumpy, has a wart on his bottom ... and going nowhere."

Coolum general manager Simon Stodart says staff are mourning the loss of Jeff, who had stood proudly outside the Sunshine Coast golf resort club house for three years.

"He's definitely irreplaceable," he told AAP.

Mr Palmer was less affected by the news, saying there were 160 other dinosaurs at the park that people could still visit.

The resort is carrying out inspections on the other animatronic dinosaurs to ensure they don't meet the same fate as Jeff.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world