If you are a traveler and are about to embark on a trip to Australia, you should be prepared to see many big things. I am not kidding. Australia is the home of a lot of big things, which is the term used to loosely refer to large structures that can be found scattered around the country. These structures are either sculptures or novelty architecture. An estimated 150 big things are scattered around the country and on every Australian state, there would at least be one big thing. As these big things can be considered as either heritage- listed or folk artworks, they may have started only as tourist traps but a lot of backpackers and tourists make it a point to visit at least one big thing and have a souvenir of it. Some people even include them in their bucket lists. We won’t be able to list all the big things in this article but we would like to share with you our favorites.
In the Australian Capital Territory, we can find the Giant Mushroom in Belconnen, specifically in the Fresh Food Markets. The mushroom itself actually shelters a playground for kids. Also in Belconnen, we can find the Giant Owl, which can be found at the Belconnen town center’s main entrance. This sculpture costs almost half a million dollars and was the brainchild of Bruce Armstrong, a sculptor from Melbourne.
In New South Wales, you will find a lot of big animals and big fruits. The Big Ant can be found in Broken Hill’s Tourist Information Center. It is a bull ant sculpture that was created in 1980. Another animal is the Big Bull but it has since been torn down in 2007. There is also the Big Kookaburra in Kurri Kurri’s Rotary Park. For the unfamiliar, a kookaburra is a huge Australasian kingfisher, which feeds on birds & certain reptiles. There’s also a Big Lamb found in Guyra, which was erected to promote New England’s potato and lamb industries (the sculpture stood on a potato plant). As for fruits, there are two Big Apples, found in Batlow&Yerrinbool, the Big Avocado located in the Tropical Fruit World in Duranbah and a Big Bunch of Bananas just in Coffs Harbour.
In Australia’s Northern Territory, you will find a Big Boxing Crocodile in Humpty Doo’s Arnhem Highway. This structure is kind of homage to another animal, the Boxing Kangaroo. You may also want to see a Big Aboriginal Hunter at the Anmatjere Community (I’d rather call it the Very Tall Aboriginal Hunter). There are also several big things in Queensland, including a Big Captain Cook, modelled of course, after Captain Cook, the famous explorer. There are also several Big Crabs (as a tribute to mud crabs) and Big Crocodiles scattered across Queensland. If you are an art lover, you might want to take a peek at the Big Easel, which features a sunflower painting of Van Gogh.
As we mentioned earlier, there are still a lot of big things that can be found in Australia. Those mentioned were only a few of them and though it may seem like a cliché to take a picture with one of those big things as a backdrop, give in to your inner tourist and do so.