The Big Banana was the first Big Thing, built in 1964 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, as a promotional sign for a banana stall. Now there are more than 150 Big Things in Australia.
Australia's penchant for 'Big Things' dates back to the 1960s when Adelaide's Big Scotsman and the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour were unveiled to oversized delight.
Australia, being the wacky and wonderful country it is, is renowned for Big Things – giant sculptures of bizarre objects ranging from a pineapple to a lobster, scattered all around the country. There's over 150 big things Down Under and we think some of the lesser known beauties needed some attention.
Big Things have been embedded in Australian culture since the 1960s. Back then, giant sculptures were built as tourist attractions. Most of them proudly represented a town's local industry, native animals, history or another claim to fame.
A giant peach will be built in the Murray River town of Cobram in an attempt to pull more tourists to the fruit-growing region. The five-metre-high structure joins the ranks of Australia's other giant tourist attractions, including the Big Banana and the Big Pineapple.
WA's Big Apple sits in the town of Donnybrook, the home of apple production in the state. While Donnybrook may not be New York, the iconic apple remains the largest big apple in Australia and sits atop a 28-meter-high tower. The apple itself is 7.5 meters tall with a diameter of 6.5 meters.
Australia is world famous for its natural wonders and wide open spaces, its beaches, deserts, "the bush", and "the Outback". Australia is one of the world's most highly urbanised countries; it is well known for the attractions of its large cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.
Unlike most wealthy countries, Australia's economy lacks both diversification and sophistication. Australia's primary exports are in low complexity categories such as mining and agriculture.
Australia has plentiful supplies of natural resources, including the second largest accessible reserves of iron ore in the world, the fifth largest reserves of coal and significant gas resources. For a long time, commodities have made up a sizeable share of our exports.
Australia is known for many things, including swathes of tropical beaches, marine reserves, Aboriginal culture, cute koalas, rolling wine country, and lush rainforests.
More than 80% of our plants, mammals, reptiles and frogs are unique to Australia and are found nowhere else in the world. Some of our Australian animals are very well known like kangaroos, dingos, wallabies and wombats and of course the koala, platypus and echidna.
Australians are the wealthiest people in the world with a typical net worth of almost $US274,000 in 2021, just ahead of Belgium, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Gwalia, Western Australia
Described as a "living ghost town", Gwalia is another of Australia's fallen mining settlements. In a familiar tale, a community of miners mushroomed here in the late 1890s after gold was discovered in the area, and the Sons of Gwalia mine was built.
The Great Dog Island, also known as Big Dog Island, and part of the Great Dog Group within the Furneaux Group, is a 354-hectare (870-acre) granite island, located in Bass Strait, lying south of the Flinders Island and north of the Cape Barren Island, in Tasmania, in south-eastern Australia.
Among the huge variety of Australian inventions are the boomerang, cochlear implants, polymer banknotes and wi-fi technology.
After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who made the suggestion of the name we use today.
Study suggests continent was colonized by more people than originally suspected. Some 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, a band of intrepid Southeast Asians became the first humans to reach Australia, and without a single glance at a GPS unit.
1. Chicken parmigiana. This classic Aussie chicken dish – with roots in Italian-American cooking – is a staple offering at many pub menus in the country. Whether you call it a parmi/parmy or a parma (but never a parmo), there's huge debate about where does the best parmigiana in Australia.
Australia and its symbols
The Australian flag has the nation's vote for being the image or symbol about which we are most proud. 95% of Australians take pride in the national flag, which is enjoying increasing popularity, with half (50%) saying that they are extremely proud.
Australia is colloquially known as "the Land Down Under" (or just "Down Under"), which derives from the country's position in the Southern Hemisphere, at the antipodes of the United Kingdom.