Big Australian Things Trivia Quiz

Answer: Captain Cook

Captain James Cook (1728-79) was the English navigator and explorer who in 1770, as captain of the "Endeavour", became the first European to reach Australia. On the 29th April, he and his crew set foot on the Australian mainland, at the place now known as Botany Bay.

The "Big Captain Cook" can be seen in the Queensland town of Cairns, some miles south of Cooktown (where "Endeavour" beached for repairs in June 1770). It is over 14 metres (46 feet) tall, and was erected in 1972 to mark the site of the "Endeavour Inn". The story goes that when planning permission was sought, the local council thought it was going to be 14 feet tall, and approved it on this basis. It is one of the earliest and best-known of Australia's so-called Big Things.

It should be made clear that he is not giving a Nazi salute, but instructing his crew not to shoot the indigenous aborigines of Botany Bay.

Answer: South Australia

The small town of Kingston SE is located on the coast of South Australia, 150 miles or so from Adelaide, the state capital. The Big Lobster (known locally as Larry) is one of its best known attractions, and marks the site of a visitor centre and restaurant.

Larry is a model of a spiny lobster, around 17 metres tall, and constructed of fibreglass and steel. He was designed and built by Paul Kelly, who had previously been responsible for another famous Big Thing, the Big Scotsman. Larry was officially unveiled in 1979 by David Tonkin, the State Premier, and has been refurbished several times since then.

Answer: Penguin

Yes, the delightful 3-metre tall "Big Penguin" was put up in 1975, to mark the town's centenary. The town got its name from the many Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) nesting in the area.

The "Big Penguin" looks pretty harmless, but in 2008 it faced being pulled down as a health hazard following revelations that its cement core contained asbestos. Fortunately, following extensive tests, health and safety officials confirmed that its coating of fibreglass and paint meant that the asbestos was well and truly sealed in. The whole of Tasmania breathed a (healthy) sigh of relief.

Answer: 1963

The picture shows Adelaide's famous Big Scotsman, located in the suburb of Medindie. He is generally agreed by experts in such matters to be the earliest Australian Big Thing (other than naturally-occurring Things like Uluru, of course), although some have argued that "Ploddy" the dinosaur at the Australian Reptile Park (also unveiled in 1963) is slightly older. The Big Scotsman was constructed as an advertisement for Scotty's Motel, and is still in the same place now - unlike Ploddy, who was relocated along with the Dinosaur Park in 1996. Another rival in age is the Coffs Harbour Big Banana, but that didn't appear until 1964.

Perhaps fortunately (especially for anyone staying in the adjacent bedroom), he doesn't contain a recording of bagpipe playing.

Answer: Trout

If you want to see the Big Trout in all its steel and fibreglass glory, you need to travel to the town of Adaminaby in New South Wales. The area is popular with trout fishermen, and this model was constructed by Andy Lomnici between 1971 and 1973.

This picture dates from 2005, and since then the trout has been given a new paint job (in 2012), giving it back a realistically pink stripe down the side. It also no longer sits in a small pond, and has a fence around it. It looks much nicer, but sadly all the pictures I found were copyrighted.

Answer: It hosts the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Nobody seems to be able to agree in which year the Tamworth Country Music Festival actually began, but the first "Golden Guitar Awards" were handed out in January 1973 at the Australasian Country Music Awards, hosted by a local radio station. The Festival has grown to fill two whole weeks every January. It is now regarded as the second largest Country Music Festival in the world, beaten only by the Nashville one in America.

The Big Golden Guitar is a larger version of the Golden Guitar trophies. It was put up in 1988 and is around 12 metres (40 feet) in height.

Angus Young (guitarist of Australian rock band AC/DC) was actually born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1955, but moved to Sydney with his family in 1963.

Answer: Galah

The galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) is a small, brightly-coloured species of cockatoo that is common throughout Australia. Like many members of the parrot family, it is an intelligent and friendly bird, so it perhaps unfair that the name "galah" is Australian slang for someone who is a bit of an idiot (as in "put that chainsaw down, ya flamin' galah!").

The Big Galah perches outside a service station in the town of Kimba, South Australia, which is roughly midway between the west and east coasts of Australia. It's the sort of place you'd stop in your SUV for a welcome snack and a photo of the pink bird before driving on.

Answer: It's a whole bunch of fun!

Coffs Harbour's "Big Banana" is definitely one of the most famous Australian Big Things, and also one of the earliest, having been erected in 1964. It's hollow, so you can (if you feel the need) walk right through it. Fortunately, the park has other attractions, including a water park and ice-skating rink.

The economy of the town and surrounding area of New South Wales once relied heavily on bananas, so there is good reason for it to host this attraction.

Answer: Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly (1854-80) was a famous outlaw and killer who remains a seminal, if controversial, figure in Australian memory. There are several "Big" figures of him around Australia, all wearing his trademark home-made metal helmet and armour. This one is in Maryborough, Queensland, and stands outside the Ned Kelly Motel and service station. It is seven metres (23 feet) tall. Others can be seen at Ballarat, Victoria, and Glenrowan, Victoria, where Kelly and his gang held their "last stand". In 2016, there were calls for the Glenrowan figure to be pulled down, because it glorified a "murderer and terrorist" (in the words of a descendent of one of the policemen killed by Kelly).

Frederick Ward and Charles Russell were two other nineteenth-century "bushrangers". Mark "Chopper" Read, who died in 2013, was a more recent Australian criminal who was the subject of a 2000 film starring Eric Bana.

Answer: Koala

The koala is one of Australia's most recognisable indigenous marsupials, but even an adult rarely exceeds around 85cm from head to where its tail would be if it had one.

However, in the pantheon of Australian Big Things, the Giant Koala must be near the top. It is 14 metres high (about the same height as Kingston SE's Big Lobster), and weighs in at 12 tonnes. It is the best-known (okay, only) tourist attraction in the small town of Dadswell Bridge, Victoria. And yes, it is actually a small shop, which sells the sort of tourist goods you'd expect to buy inside a 46-foot koala. It was constructed in 1988 by Ben Van Zetton, out of bronze and steel.