Australia isn't short of big things. It's a big country with a big desert in its centre, some big coral reefs off its coastline and a few big, cosmopolitan cities. But beyond this, Australia is also home to Big Things – a cult phenomenon in which Australians have built and sculpted enormous objects. Think giant prawns, enormous mangoes and huge cows... Read on for a selection of our favourites around the country that are both brilliant and bizarre. Due to COVID-19, check any state restrictions and individual attractions before you travel.
This enormous fruit has been proudly on display at Coffs Harbour for more than 55 years now, ever since John Landi decided to erect the Big Banana to attract passing traffic to his banana stall. It's said to be Australia's first ever Big Thing, and it became such a popular attraction that Landi eventually built a café, shop and car park for visitors. Today it's part of The Big Banana Fun Park: there's a water park, laser tag arena, ice skating rink, toboggan ride and much more inside the grounds.
A one-time iconic Big Cow on the Sunshine Coast that was sculpted by Hugh Anderson in the 1970s has been given a new lease of life at Highfields Pioneer Village, north of Toowoomba. The Big Cow was cut in two pieces to be trucked here in 2020 after it had fallen into disrepair.
The Big Pineapple typically draws up to a million visitors per year and it's so well-loved it was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 2009. It was even visited by Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their tour of Australia in the 1980s. Originally an early attempt at agri-tourism, the 52-foot (16m) high pineapple was part of a larger plantation. Today there are shops, a zoo and a treetops rope course here.
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Buffy – a nickname born from the scientific name bufo marinus – is a giant, fibreglass cane toad. Originally made from papier-mâché in 1983 and used on a float during the Sarina sugar festival, he was eventually cast into weather-resistant permanence in honour of the town's cane-farming industry.
As with many of the Big Things throughout Oz, this mango in Bowen is a tribute to the local industry: mango farming. The fibreglass fruit cost AU$90,000 (around £47k; $60k) when it was first built in 2002, and it weighed in at seven tonnes, making it the largest mango sculpture in the world. But around 12 years into its life outside the city's tourist information centre, the mango was stolen in the dead of night. It was found nearby and it later transpired that the whole thing was a publicity stunt by chicken restaurant Nando's to promote its new mango sauce.
Some Big Things are simply for show, but others have a more practical use. This giant golf ball at Mermaid Beach on Queensland's Gold Coast marks the entrance to Putt Putt Golf – a series of themed golf courses that make for a delightful family day out. Visitors certainly won't get lost thanks to this grinning golf ball.
This smiling mango is more than just a big fruit: it's the mascot for Alf Poefinger's Frosty Mango ice cream shop. A hugely popular stop since the late 1980s, the parlour is famous for serving up unusual flavours of ice cream, like dragonfruit and jaboticaba. And mango, of course.
Set in the Adelaide Hills, this giant, 25-tonne rocking horse is a prime attraction. Standing at almost 60 feet (18m), the structure was completed in 1981 and was designed as part of a family entertainment complex. Today, the horse still stands proud, enticing passing cars to stop and explore the wildlife park and wooden toy factory.
Designed by artist Pro Hart and built in 1980, the Big Ant was donated to Broken Hill – one of the country's most remote towns – in 1990. It now sits atop a wooden structure, overlooking the desert town in Australia's Red Centre. More of Hart's work can be seen and purchased in his nearby gallery.
There's surely only one use for a titanic chicken sculpture, right? To advertise an egg shop... And, that's exactly what this chicken, or 'chook', is doing. The huge bird sits right outside a farm in Mount Vernon where you can buy – you guessed it – eggs, as well as chicken mince, quail meat, frozen foods and more.
This knight has been standing guard outside Macadamia Castle, a nut-themed amusement park, for decades. Little is documented about the knight itself, but the park has a train ride, petting zoo, mini golf and a 'nocturnal theatre' with bats and possums.
Almost 30-feet (9m) long, this big old slice of watermelon would be a wonderful refreshment on a hot day. Unfortunately, it's not real and was constructed in 2018 as a celebration of Chinchilla's watermelon-growing industry. It was built by travel website Wotif, as part of the "Next Big Thing" campaign in which Australians voted for what should be the next Big Thing to go up in the country. The melon beat a Big Peanut and a Big Tulip, apparently.
Kneeling outside the Bobby Dazzler Sapphire Mine, the Big Miner is grasping a clump of rock, in which there would no doubt have been some of the precious stones this area is famous for. A popular place for fossicking – searching for gold or other treasures – the mine usually draws locals and visitors hoping to find sapphires buried in the ground.
This 32-foot (9m) tall Captain Cook was originally built outside a hotel of the same name. The hotel no longer exists but the statue of the famous explorer still stands, and has been the subject of much scrutiny. On Australia Day in 2017, someone draped a large banner saying "sorry" across the statue – thought to reference the European colonisation of Australia – and a petition has been launched to tear it down. James Cook University now owns the land the statue stands on and is looking to move it to an appropriate home.
There's more than one reason to stop at this Big Thing in Queensland. This rather tempting pie stands tall above Yatala Pies, a 130-plus-year-old business that began selling 200 pies a day to the locals, and now sells around 3,500 a day, plus plenty of sweets and pastries. With choices like steak and mushroom and lamb coconut curry, the bakery is hailed as an institution.
Unveiled in 2018 after two decades of discussion, the Big Thermometer is the latest Big Thing attraction in Stanthorpe. The town is said to be the coldest in Queensland, and the enormous, AU$100,000 (£51k/$67k) thermometer does actually measure and display the current temperature. It's one of the few Big Things that's actually practical.
You've probably never heard of ant tourism, and quite frankly, neither had we until we found this Big Ant in Poochera, South Australia. The town is, in fact, an ant tourism hub, having gained fame when a rare species of ant was found in its soil in 1977. The dinosaur ant, or nothomyrmecia macrops if you want to get all scientific, is thought to closely resemble what the first ants would have looked like on Earth, and this huge sculpture is a testament to them. Thankfully, they're not this big and mostly live underground in tiny holes.
In a country where wine is one of the key exports, it's unsurprising to see some Big Things dedicated to the stuff. This 32-feet (10m) high wine bottle outside a winery in McLaren Vale is actually made of recycled corks. Nowhere, though, is it documented who exactly drank all that wine...
Located along the Barrier Highway between Yunta and Mannahill, these Big Dice are a hit with passersby. Made of concrete blocks piled into a pyramid, it's sadly impossible to roll them. But people usually love taking a photo with them.
A giant cockroach isn't exactly a great mascot for any town, but the people of Lower Light in South Australia seem to have a fondness for this one. Originally built in the 1990s as a protest against a waste dump being built in the area, the cockroach sculpture survived long after the plans were abandoned. It was briefly lost in 2013, but a local TV host tracked it down to a scrapyard and bought it back in exchange for two slabs of beer. It was eventually returned to its original home, alongside a series of other sculptures (named the "Dublin protest sculptures") including a spaceship and a tin man.
You won't miss the turning for this hotel in Medindie: an enormous statue of a Scottish man with kilt, bagpipes and all, signals your arrival at Scotty's Motel. He even wears the traditional sporran, though there's no telling what's inside – the statue is 16-feet (5m) high so it's unlikely we'll ever find out. Thankfully, those bagpipes aren't real either so no need to worry about being woken in the night.
This big, flightless bird was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the town of Penguin in Tasmania. Sitting on the town's esplanade, it was built in 1975 and is now one of the region's most-photographed attractions. It's modelled on a fairy penguin, which are still seen today in rookeries along the Australian coastline.
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Not just a notorious cartoon character, Tasmanian devils do really exist and they've been immortalised in Mole Creek with this enormous statue. The real things are nowhere near as big as this guy, who stands at the entrance to Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary. They tend to be the size of a small dog but have a notoriously powerful bite.
This near-20-foot (6m) mullet fish isn't a particularly appetising sight. Unlike the spritely trout in Adaminaby, New South Wales, this Big Fish lies on its side, mouth open, looking very, very dead. Sitting atop the Art-Deco Fish Creek Hotel, it hardly seems a good omen. But when owner Rob Moncur saw the fish sculpture at an exhibition in a quarry in 1990, he saw fit to pay the asking price and have it installed on top of his establishment.
Wine, cricket, beer... We've almost covered all of Australia's biggest passions. But a more recent one is coffee. Australia is dubbed a coffee capital of the world, with cities like Perth and Melbourne home to some of the best baristas in the business. This Big Coffee Maker sits outside Georges Gourmet Coffee store which sells everything you need to make the perfect brew.
While many of these Big Things are placed next to souvenir shops or theme parks, this Giant Koala takes it one step further: the gift shop is inside it. Built in 1989 and weighing 12 tonnes, the landmark was renamed in 2009 in honour of Sam the koala, who became known around the world after an adorable video of her drinking from a firefighter's bottle went viral. The firefighter had just rescued Sam from a bushfire that devastated thousands of homes and killed hundreds, and she sadly died around six months later.
Built in 1977, this enormous bird stands on the shores of the Noosa River. Usually a popular place for families to stop and take a photo or have a picnic, it's also a favoured spot for real-life pelicans, who'll land in its shadow during the hot afternoon sun to get away from the heat.