I’ve been the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society meetings which were in Coffs Harbour this year, as the New England branch put them on. A nice change from the usual capital city locations, though this is the rainy season in Coffs just as it is in Brisbane.
One Coffs Harbour icon did not live up to my memories of the distant past[1]. The Big Banana isn’t very big. For me, it’s always been the exemplar of Australian bigness, but at 40 years old, it belongs to the Triassic era of Big Things (along with the Big Trout at Adaminaby, which I like a lot). The Big Prawn and so on are on a more Jurassic scale, and the Big Merino at Goulburn is positively Cretaceous: the ultrasaurus of such things.
fn1. I’ve driven through Coffs quite a few times, and not realised this, but that’s because I didn’t notice the Banana even when I was vaguely looking for it, expecting, as I did, something much bigger.
John Quiggin 
The word you want is Brobdingnagian, from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
It’s not just an Australian phenomenon. Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, has a large BaSotho Hat, a tourist attraction in the shape of a traditional hat.
At least the Big Banana looks like a banana, and has generally good shape, even if it isn’t exactly enourmous. The big potato at Robinson looks like a giant turd. The big cheese down at Bodalla is even worse, a fading yellow water tank on a stand, and really isn’t deserved of the title it gives itself not being particularly huge nor realistic
I think we should have some minimum criteria for big things. – size, realism etc to prevent dodgy imitators degrading a great national institution.
I thoroughly agree that the Big Trout is in a different category from the rest. It’s actually very beautiful, and I hope measures are taken to conserve it properly.
Question:
What is the ULTIMATE big thing in Oz?
Which is the ONE most representative of the country, its people, etc.
mmm…
You could argue, they all fit the mould set up by the big smoke: the Federation Square, the BIG Opera House, the BIG Harbor Bridge, the Kenneth inspired biggest tower, etc
Given the electoral climate currently…. Amanda Vanstone? 😉
Carlos: Is there a big beer can anywhere?
“Carlos: Is there a big beer can anywhere?”
Yep. In Cobar, NSW. It’s 5 metres tall by 2.5 metres in diameter and could hold 79,398 middies.
Makes me thirsty just thinking about it. I love how they calculated how many middies it holds, too. Sounds like something I’d do.
Who was Australia’s biggest politician? Russ Hinze or Bob Collins? Would Kimbo be our biggest party leader?
Sir George Reid, Francis. He apparently made Russ look like Kate Moss.
John, there’s also the Big Bull in Rocky, complete with genitalia. I have this on the authority of Prof. Geoff Lawrence, my former HoS, who as a leading rural sociologist and fellow UQ Prof, you may have come across. Unfortunately, like everyone else, I’m utterly unable to recall the sociological significance of this object because of the very disturbing and powerful mental images it conjured up in my head when I heard him mention it in the Intro to Soc lecture!
For me, the Big Pineapple remains the archetypical “big” thing – the setting of many a school trip. The most ridiculous “big” thing in Australia has to be that giant guitar in Tamworth.
Theres a Big Worm down on the Gippsland Highway.
I really like the dodgy ones you see where some farmer has put a badly designed and built BIG THING up to catch the punters.
I’d like to see a Big Nit at a local primary school.
For me the Big Merino in Goulburn is the definitive “Big thing”, nothing comes close, but James is right the big trout is the nicest looking of the bunch (especially when compared to the big potato – good pie shop in robertson though)
From memory there’s a Medium-Sized Trout in Oberon, just west of the Blue Mountains in NSW. Less than spectacular.
There’s a big merino on Phillip Island. But who can go past the Big Lobster in Kingston, which can be found at a fine site dedicated to Australian Big things.
I read the “Big Trout” as the “Big Snout”, which could be a good idea.
Bill Lawry is the Big Snout.
I think there’s a big Tassie Devil down here at Mole Creek or thereabouts.
I’d rate the Big Lawnmower at Beerwah slightly ahead of the Big Guitar at Tamworth for the title of most ridiculous. I had a soft spot for the Big Prawn at Ballina until the bus I was riding to Canberra in July 2003 stopped there for dinner, causing me much mortification due to the flagrantly rent-seeking meal prices for hapless long-distance bus passengers.
If I recall rightly there is also a Big Cow at Yandina in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. If it were to be artificially inseminated by the Big Bull at Rocky, the resulting Big Calf would need to be located at Gin Gin, roughly equidistant between the parents.
Yobbo, there’s the big beer* can AND burger at the Claremont showgrounds in Perth. Tremendous source of family pride that the grandson of a Bulgarian immigrant could one day build such a thing.
*I’m assuming it hasn’t been painted over by a soft drink company.
I remember being a passenger once on a road trip and dozing during the wee hours only to see the softly lit night-time stance of the Big Merino during a half awake moment. Scared the crap out of me.
I’d like Kim to become the BIG Kimmee!
He could have a big sign next to it saying “look at moyee, look at moyeeeee!”
But I guess the ultimate big thing would have to be the “BIG MORTAGE”.
There are some big dice out in the middle of nowhere some where near Broken Hill. No tourist information booth or postcards for sale. Just two big dice.
I’ve got a photo of my daughter in awe before the Big Lobster (or crayfish?) -as opposed to Medium Lobster, for instance.
There’s a big oyster in some town up the NSW north coast – an absolute shocker.
I’ve occasionally thought that there is a superb niche in the market along some route much travelld by the grey nomads for the Big Map.
One that Big Map, the visitor, upon paying entry could see three-dimensional miniatures, natsukes if you like, of all the many and varied Big Things to be found looming over tourist roads the length and breadth of this great land of ours.
Of course, visitors may buy replicas of the Mini Big Things.
Please direct any royalty cheques owed to me for use of this idea c/o John Quiggin, University of Queensland.
“There’s a big oyster in some town up the NSW north coast – an absolute shocker.”
Taree. It’s uniquely awful. So is the oyster.
There’s The Big Lawnchair on the roof of a Cairns furniture shop, The Big Garden Fork outside a hardware store on the way to Snug Harbour in Tasmania, The Big Earthworm in Bass, The Big Galah in Kimba WA and, just for you yobbo, The Big Rum Bottle in Bundaberg.
And for connoisseurs of really pissweak big things, there’s The Big Potato http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/potatogod/bigpotato.html
Aha here’s an archival shot of the big beer can and burger to stimulate the Friday afternoon palate
A Big Hat in Kennedy. A Big Hairdo in Mackellar. A Big Earring in Bradfield. A Big Future in Wentworth. A Big Flush Fund in Tumbi Creek. A Big Rodent in Bennelong. A Big Blouse in Mayo. (A Bigger Blouse in Immigration.) A Big Sook in Chisolm. A Big Environmentalist in O’Connor. A Big Monarchist in Indi. A Big Floor-Crosser in Kooyong. A Big Cross-Dresser in Mayo. A Big Little Mate in North Sydney. A Big Papist in Waringah. A Big Pain in Sturt. A Big Biting Dog in Solomon. A Big Faxer in Hughes. A Big Taxer in Chisolm. A Big Collector in Berowra.
It’s pretty big I guess 😐
Theres a Big Lemon somewhere. I seem to remember that it was indeed a lemon, if you know what I mean.
Who bigger? Manda or Kim?
The NSW metropolis of Dunedoo proposed a 3 story dunny back in 2002 that would have cleaned up in the Big Dunny stakes. It was blocked by Philistines, from memory.
There was an attempt to build a Big Dog in Alphington in Melbourne, but it ran into some kind of problem with the neighbours. I think they felt odd about the fact that it would tower over the railway line and the adjacent platform.
Fetch Fido, Fetch!
Im sure the Big Dog is still at Alphington
#27, the Big Galah is actually in Kimba SA (not WA).
The Big Trout at Adaminaby had a wonderful sign saying “Please do not climb on the trout”.
There is a Big Koala near Stawell in Victoria, with a roll-a-door stomach from which souvenirs are sold.
The biggest Big failure has to be the now defunct Big Pavlova at Marulen between Canberra and Sydney. It looked like a big water tank painted pink and white.
I grew up near the Big Banana, (Woolgoolga, a hard name to say, but a great place to stay!) and it never failed to disappoint Australian tourists in terms of size…:)
The Big Prawn and Big Earthworm have always been my favorites… although the mini Ayers Rock at Leyland Brothers World probably won the prize in terms of sheer tackiness…
And there’s the BIg Cheesestick ( and Big Carrot Sticks and Big Slinky) on the drive into Melbourne from Tullamarine.
There is an evil light coming out of the Big Merino’s eyes, quite sinister if you stand underneath and look up. Possibly an omen, because I seem to remember the thing became a financial disaster for the proprietors (you can actually walk up inside it) after the highway bypassed Goulburn. Perhaps that goes to show that bigness is not to practised to excess. (I think Jane Austen might have put that better, once when we hit the sack together)
Comment by Geoff Honnor: The NSW metropolis of Dunedoo proposed a 3 story dunny back in 2002 that would have cleaned up in the Big Dunny stakes. It was blocked by Philistines, from memory.
Did the Philistines block it by stuffing too much paper down it?
Maybe it was them who blocked mine last time.
Where’s “The Big Plunger?”
“Where’s “The Big Plunger?â€?
In The Oak Room at Crown Casino. “Mr Packer, so good to see you again. Your usual seat?”
Hmm, actually he can’t gamble there can he? OK, you can find “The Big Plunger” at “Steve Wynn’s Private Salon”, “The Mirage”, Las Vegas, NV.
Where’s “The Big Plunger?�
My last girlfriend had that nickname for me.
I’d really like to see a Big Philistine.
And there’s the Big Black Hole at Baxter
I knew a lawyer many years ago who had a client who lived near one of the big things (prawn from memory, but can’t be certain). There were huge lights on it’s eyes which shone straight in her window. She was suing for loss of sleep or something similar.
There are lots of big things in NZ as well. The majority are tall and skinny, eg The Big Carrot of Ohakune and the Big L&P Bottle (a local soft drink much loved by Kiwi’s) at Paeroa, also the odd rampant trout or salmon in the South Island. All built by men I suspect as the word “phallic” come to mind. In the words of Shrek “compensating for something?”
Some additions are needed to the list of big things – several Australian icons seem to be missing. For a start, I suggest the Big Lamington (Moonee Ponds might be a suitable location), the Big Pavlova and, as an addition to Bowral’s Bradman Museum, the Big Cricketer.
Additionally, the “Big Non-Core Promise”, a giant flummery flayed by a thousand knives, mounted on a plinth in a Medibank office.