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The Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, NSW

Where can I find all of these “big” monuments I’ve heard so much about in Australia?

Fabian Hill, France

A banana, rocking horse, orange, prawn, koala, pineapple and even a wine cask all feature as some of over 150 “big” Australian icons that you can visit or often just accidentally drive past.  

Arguably the most famous of them all is the Big Banana found in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. The oldest of all of Australia’s Big Things, it stands five metres high and 11 metres long and is, believe it or not, situated next to a banana plantation. Shocking, we know. The banana was built in 1964 after a guy was struggling to sell bananas, so after gaining inspiration from the giant pineapple in Hawaii, he erected the Big Banana and so the people came…and bought his bananas too!

Other oversized objects include the Big Rocking Horse in Gumeracha, South Australia where you can climb through the inside and visit the famous toy store located right next door.

For lovers of goon, Stanley Wines in Buronga, New South Wales has its own ode-to-goon monument with an eight metre high, 11 metre long and seven metre wide mock wine cask. If filled (we have our fingers crossed that one day, it will happen) this baby would hold 400,00 litres of the good stuff.

English author Craig Scutt even dedicated a substantial time of his life to writing a book about all of Australia’s Big Things called Big Aussie Icons. And he can name 31 of them in one minute. Don’t believe us? Check out his interview here.

Another Brit, comedian Danny Wallace also based his Australian tour around visiting each of the Big Things. You can see what he had to say here.

Before you go licking, sucking or biting into one of the icons (and we don’t mean the Brits), you must know that most of the big things are made out of fibreglass. Yes, even the koala.