A crime scene has been established after an iconic Pacific Highway service station was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night.
Firefighters attended and extinguished the blaze at The Rock Service Centre, however, the property was destroyed.
Employees escaped the blaze uninjured.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
Police investigations have started and anyone with information is urged to come forward.
Tuesday, 9.30pm: NSW Police and emergency services responded to reports of a fire at The Rock Service Centre on Tuesday evening.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene about 7.15pm, where they found the service centre, designed to resemble Uluru on the Pacific Highway west of Hawks Nest, alight.
Nine fire crews from NSW Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue responded to the blaze.
A RFS spokesperson said crews were working to protect flammable stores at the site, including bowsers of fuel and gas.
A campground nearby was evacuated as a precaution. No injuries have been reported. RFS has said crews have accounted for everyone on the scene.
A further nine crews from NSW Fire and Rescue responded to the fire, where they assisted RFS to protect property and bring the blaze under control.
A spokesperson for NSW Fire said that the building had suffered severe damage, but, that at 8.30pm, the blaze was not escalating.
Fire crews are expected to be fighting the blaze for several hours.
The Rock, a 1/40 scale replica of Uluru, was built in the early 1990s as part of the Leyland Brothers World, a 40-hectare theme park north of Newcastle.
The park included amusement rides, a playground, roadhouse museum and 144-student capacity bush camp.
In July 1992 a receiver was appointed to the park after the Leyland Brothers company, which owned the park, failed to meet its loan commitment to the Commonwealth Bank.
The theme park was sold at auction by the receiver in November 1992 and purchased for $800,000. It now trades as the Great Aussie Bushcamp.
- The details of this report are developing. It will be updated.
Simon McCarthy
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
