Everything's bigger in Australia, though some of it’s falling apart

By now, we’ve all seen the images of Australia’s giant cow that’s actually neither a cow nor a giant. Seven-year-old steer Knickers might be tall, but he’s not the stand out when it comes to Australia’s obsession with “bigger things.”

Across the country, state governments and towns have a long tradition of installing giant monuments officially known as “bigger things” that are deeply rooted in regional identity.

Supersized plastic bananas may point to a town’s reliance on the local banana producer. “The Big Pineapple” in the Sunshine Coast Region is pretty self-explanatory, while a 40-feet high guitar could potentially indicate to aspiring musicians: we’re the town your looking for. And that spooky, red prawn that’s watching drivers from a car park in Ballina, New South Wales? Well, some of the giant attractions that can be found along streets and car parks in the world’s sixth-largest country (by area) have clearer messages than others.

Giant monuments are of course not unique to Australia, as any fan of American roadside attractions will know. But Down Under, the “bigger things,” as locals call them, are such a cult phenomenon that they have been the subject of political and financial scrutiny, academic research and pop-cultural fascination.