Last Updated on March 3, 2017 by Red Nomad OZ
Once upon a time – WAAAAAAY back in the dim, distant world of 1989 – Ballina’s tail-less BIG Prawn sat atop the West Ballina transit centre and restaurant. Inside, visitors could climb up into its head and view a distorted world through the thick perspex of its concave eye. Over time, as businesses came and went below, the passive prawn’s exotic colouring faded from the original cooked-prawn red to pink, then finally a ghastly, ghostly white.
20 years later, after reports it was suffering from crustacean concrete cancer, the local council approved its demolition.
What were they thinking??
Yet, while some – especially those with good taste and refinement – see Australia’s notorious Big Things as trashy and tacky kitsch, for better or worse they’re a part of the Aussie culture.
Which should give non-Australians a disturbing idea of our national condition … but I digress!
To us Aussies, it’s quite normal to wander through a landscape awash with giant fibreglass and concrete objects that almost – but not quite – represent actual fruit, animals and people.
But to actually destroy one?
Our inbuilt nationalistic tendency to defend the underdog kicks in!
That’s possibly why nearby coastal town Yamba’s 2012 takeover bid was thwarted and the shrinking shrimp received a stay of execution demolition order!
Locals from Ballina, in Northern New South Wales and an hour’s drive south of the Queensland border, weren’t going to give up their placid prawn without a fight.
After all, watching the Prawn Trawlers head down the Richmond River, across the churning waters of its treacherous Bar and out through its mouth to sea for a night of fishing is one of the joys of walking Ballina’s twin breakwalls. It’s even more exciting watching the trawlers return to cross the bar through a mountainous swell in seas so heavy I’ll never to complain about the price of seafood again!
With Ballina’s inaugural Prawn festival date of November 2013 fast approaching, it somehow seems right for the Big Prawn Ballina to remain.
So when hardware giant Bunnings tapped into the community outrage with a masterful blend of goodwill, expedience and positive publicity by writing a new lease of life for the controversial crustacean into its development proposal for the site on which it stood, the shiftless shrimp’s future was assured.
And in a lucky break for the Big Thing loving public – and quite possibly Ballina’s international tourist industry – the Big Prawn Ballina has not only been preserved, but given a makeover.
Now, after being moved to it’s final resting spot, raised 3 metres so its brand-new tail would fit underneath, and repainted to a mouth-watering shade of cooked-crustacean salmon pink, the Big Prawn is BACK!
And although the finishing touches were still being applied on this rare rain-free Northern Rivers afternoon, the pulchritudinous prawn looks better than ever!
Want MORE?
- See MY PHOTO in the Little Aussie Book of BIG Aussie Icons!
Fun post…. is the big prawn still there??
Bigger, better and brighter than ever, Liz! It’s ALMOST good enough to eat 😀
Check this out – a cool bit of fiction about the Big Prawn http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/radiotonic/the-big-prawn/5830728
Hahaha, Thanx for that Lucy – it’s awesome!! LOVE our Aussie Big Things!! Which one’s YOUR favourite??
Red, The Big Prawn – A perfect first post for Saturday Critters… loved it. Now shall we make everyone out there in colder climes jealous, when I ask ‘Are you throwing a prawn or two on the barbie on Christmas Day?!!’
Have a great week
Wren x
Just heard that the Big Prawn has been burned in the bushfires … so sad! 🙁
Don’t come the raw prawn with me Red.
In Rockhampton is/was another one that huge 🙂
Australia is so much like Texas–the bigger, the better!
@FruitCake – Hahaha, I thought they HAD been!! But it’d be pointless re-locating them to Canberra, because it’s the only place in OZ where it seems we are indeed too old to learn!
@Pam – Oh, I always wondered what it would be like to actually live near a Big Thing!!! The orange looked rather faded last time I saw it … perhaps it’ll get lucky some day & get repainted to look like a sunset too!!!
@Marja – Yes, from a distance he actually looks good enough to eat!
@Hilda – Haha, funny that!! Apparently the crew who worked on the prawn had to sample LOTS so they could get the shape & colour right!! He’ll inspire many more meals yet, I think!
@PDP – It’ll be interesting to see if their sausage sizzles go up a notch & turn into seafood sizzles in Ballina?? If so, that just might entice me to visit Bunnings there!!
@Dianne – Come now! Where’s your sense of adventure?!?! At least I can say I’ve viewed the world through prawn-coloured glass …
@River – Touring OZ via Big Thing wouldn’t be such a bad way to travel!!
@Saucy Kodz – Hahaha, where’s Texas?!?!?! Australia is the KING of BIG!!!
@diane b – Perfectly pleasurable, oh perspicacious person! And just try spelling all of THAT without a dictionary handy!
@Whiteangel – It is indeed. For better or worse …
@Chris – WOW! A giant cow?? Why haven’t I seen this on your blog???? But there’s something about grotesque giant misrepresentations of well known objects that pulls the crowds!
@Jo-Anne – Oh, I’m SOOOOO flattered!!! Just as well you didn’t visit the prawn more recently – you’d have been SHOCKED at how faded it got before makeover!
@Sallie – What do you mean, you wouldn’t come here to see them???!!! Maybe I should post a ‘Tour Australia via Big Things’ itinerary?!?!
@Rose – Maybe it’s time to start lobbying for a BIG Thing at YOUR local Bunnings?!?!?! What would be a worthy Big thing for you, I wonder?!
@Andrew – I’m devastated by your lack of sarcasm … but you’re right! The BIG Prawn actually looks like a prawn – not just a sad caricature …
@eileeninmd – Stories like this are what I live for … ALL Big Things should be so lucky!
@Jim – It sure IS one of the best … NOW!!! Bummer that I don’t have a pic of it during its pale, wan and weedy period …
@Beach Bum – Hahaha! Can just see the Guinness Book of Records entry NOW!!!
@MJWC – Haha, I was all ready to write its obituary – but then I saw its resurrection!!!
@Arija – Couldn’t agree more! Embrace the kitsch, I say!!! I seek them out – but I’ve only scratched the surface … watch this space!
@SFlaGuy – Yeah, it’s just as well … can you imagine what an Aged Care facility for unloved BIG Crustacea would look like?!?!?!
@Sharon – FAAAAABULOUS!!! I’d LOVE to see that!!! Those of us who record such things for posterity salute you!!
@Filip – It certainly is, my friend!! Of all the BIG things I’ve seen downunder, this one is the most realistic!!
@Fun60 – HAhahaha!!! Now THERE’S a true-blue Aussie BIG Thing I’ve yet to see!! Bunnings – how about it?!?!?!
Wow! the revival of the Big Prawn …. it’s amazing the things us Aussies will restore only of course once threatened with extinction. Would I climb the heights to get a prawn’s eye view? most probably not.
This story just made me grin from ear to ear. Hooray for the big prawn! Of course, now, I want some prawns. Yum!
Very interesting prawn story Good that the prawn is back in new vibrant colour. He looks awesome
I had to figure out who would write about a prawn-coloured sunset (loved the description)in Arija’s comments. So glad I popped by and learnt the big prawn history, this coming from someone who lived a short distance from S.A’s big orange for many years.
Oh he did look a sad sorry crustacean there..good old Bunnings to the rescue.. P’s,(along with millions of other men, maybe some women too) favourite hideaway..I thought they were only interested in sausage (sizzles) haha!
Oh yeah us Aussies like our big things and I am glad the big prawn has been saved I remember visiting the big prawn way back in the early 90’s………….thanks for visiting me and I liked this post so much that I am now following you via email….
You would be disappointed, I’m sure, if I did not suggest the prawn, the sheep and the galah should all be relocated to Canberra…
BTW thank you for forcing me to look up the word pulchritudinous… [in the end had to copy and paste just to get the spelling right!]. For all these years I thought it meant the complete opposite, but we’re never too old to learn, are we?
Very cool story! It’s places like these that make landmarks so special. I’m glad it wasn’t demolished but instead Made to look like itself again 🙂 In my hometown we have a giant cow and all the tourists love seeing it and having a picture taken With it
Happy the Prawn was saved. It’s our Australian culture to have these ‘big’ things 🙂
I thought it looked different the last time I was there. Thanks for the pulchritudinous????? prawn story.
It used to be that everything was bigger in Texas, however; you have literally stolen that title, with all the “BIG” things I have seen on your travels. Praise to the Prawn and most glad someone had the sense or authority to preserve this guy and give him a new look n home:)
I didn’t know we had a Big Prawn. He does look quite lifelike.
Thank you to Bunnings for the rescue.
Well, you know if I were ever lucky enough to go to Australia, I certainly wouldn’t be coming specifically to see those “big things”, but I’d be disappointed if they weren’t there. Which may say something about my condition. Fun post.
You’d need a big barbie for that one.
The mind boggles at the amount of cocktail sauce that would be needed for that bad boy!
I love this pesky prawn. Your story reminded me of something I saw in Italy on my trip there last year. It was the front of a restaurant called “Gargantua’s” and it featured a truly gargantuan man being fed by a cadre of helpers (probably because he couldn’t possibly lift his own massive arms). It was located in a town called Paese in the Veneto region of Italy. I remember being so stunned by the sight of it, I made our friend who was driving turn around and go back so I could get a photo. The whole thing looked so out of place in a country where traditional and enduring architecture abounds.
Love these BIG things and the Big Prawn has to be one of the best.
So glad the big prawn was saved and given a makeover. Cute post, Red!
You may well expect me to write something sarcastic but as big things go, the prawn is rather good. Good to hear big business stepping up to the crease in a very practical way.
G’day Red,
Aha! long live the Big Prawn and all other Big Things!
Rose (official member of Big Thing loving public)
God bless Bunnings – I knew there was a reason I practically live there……
I liek the prawn. It is something special.
Greetings,
Filip
Reminds me of the story of the giant lobster in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys. Glad all the super sized crustaceans of the world are finding loving homes.
Up the prawn, the giant crayfish,the monstrous ram, the big orange, apple, gumboot and galah., not to mention the Koala and lord knows what else. Where would we be without them?
Now that is one big prawn!! Looks like it found a much better resting spot.