The Wild Mouse (Wilden Maus) was a Schwartzkopf designed ride and Ted Hopkins (General Manager of Luna Park, Sydney) saw it at the Seattle Worlds Fair while he was touring the U.S. in 1962 for a new attraction for Luna Park. He negotiated for the Australian license to manufacture the ride, and to keep costs down they built three at once - one for Luna Park and the other two for a Melbourne based showman by the name of Green. It was rumoured to reduce the signage costs, he changed the name from Wild Mouse to Mad Mouse.
No huge rollercoaster drops by today’s terms, just lots of tight turns and a few speedy dips. The only adrenaline rush any rider truly experiences, is through panicking that the skateboard-sized wheel-base may just come right off the track! Children of all ages love it.
All three rides still exist. The Adelaide Mad Mouse was operated by Bob Lawrence till 2007 while the Melbourne unit owned by Wittingslow, is used once a year at the Rye Summer Carnival, after being a staple attraction of the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds till its removal in 2003. The original Wild Mouse of the late Ted Hopkins resides in Sydney’s Luna Park today is subject to a heritage order. There is one other Wild Mouse at Aussie World (previously located in the Perth Showgrounds, Western Australia); and before that, in the USA.
Many thanks to Michael Hind for the above information.
