Travel & Touring | WA Things To Do
By: Tatum Stafford
With more than 2.6 million square kilometres of land, it’s no surprise that Australia’s biggest state is also home to some of our country’s most impressive ‘big things’. Be it sculptures, statues, museums or roadside icons, it’s clear we do things bigger in the West.
But with so many big things to choose from, narrowing them down can be a sizeable feat, so we’ve done the hard work for you. Here are our top 10 big things in WA.
1. The Giant Ram
Located in the sleepy sheep farming town of Wagin, the Giant Ram was built in 1985 as a celebration of the town’s prosperity in the wool industry. You’ll find Bart the ram in Wagin’s Wetlands Park. The sculpture is second only to Goulburn’s Big Merino, which is believed to be the biggest ram in the world at more than 15m tall.
2. The Big Snail
WA is not only home to Australia’s first native snail trail, but the world’s biggest snail. Bremer Bay’s Big Snail, constructed by local artist Peter Hill, is close to 10,000 times the size of a regular garden snail and weighs a whopping 700kg. The Snail is modelled on the South Coast Land Snail, which plays an important role within the region’s ecological landscape.
3. The world's largest periodic table
Taking up 662 square metres inside one of ECU’s Joondalup Campus buildings, the world’s largest periodic table was the brainchild of vice-chancellor Professor Steve Chapman to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the table’s creation. This scientific ode is well on its way to official accreditation, as it is four times the size of the periodic table at Spain’s University of Murcia, which was previously the largest in the world.
4. The Big Prawn
Not to be confused with its counterpart in Ballina, New South Wales, Exmouth’s Big Prawn pays homage to the region’s famed tiger and king prawns. At 4m tall, this iconic fibreglass sculpture was recently donated to the Exmouth Council and now sits proudly outside the Ningaloo Visitor Centre.
5. The Big Camera
WA is home to only one museum of cameras and it’s actually located inside a building that looks like a giant 35mm camera. The Big Camera is 90 minutes east of Perth in the town of Meckering. Owner Chic Wadley’s unique collection encompasses more than 1,500 fully operational cameras, projectors, enlargers, kaleidoscopes, magic lanterns and slides.
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6. Lake Ballard Sculptures
One of the world’s largest outdoor galleries can be found at Lake Ballard, near Kalgoorlie. The art installation, known as Inside Australia, is made up of 51 sculptures created by acclaimed British artist Antony Gormley. Uniquely, all materials and alloys used to create the sculptures – namely titan, vanadium and molybdenum – are found in Western Australian rock.
7. The world's tallest bin
The Kalgoorlie-Boulder region is the proud home of the self-proclaimed world’s tallest bin. Standing 8m high, the bin was the brainchild of the Keep Kalgoorlie Klean Kommittee during the 1980 ‘Tidy Towns’ competition, and features artworks that were hand-painted by local schoolchildren at the time of its construction.
8. The Big Orange
A visit to the town of Harvey isn’t complete without a trip to see the Big Orange, which you can also climb. Nestled atop a 10m tower at the Harvey River Estate cellar door, the Orange is the perfect spot to view Harvey’s thriving farmlands during harvest (from June to October). Entry is by gold coin donation, with all proceeds going to Telethon.
9. The Big Croc
As you enter the town of Wyndham, be prepared to come face-to-face with a ferocious-looking, oversized croc. Perched at the start of the Wyndham Three Mile is a 20m long, 3m high saltwater big crocodile that was built in 1988 by sculptor Andrew Hickson and students from the Halls Creek TAFE. The statue was designed using a combination of computer technology and nature photography to accurately plot a crocodile’s shape.
10. Leeuwin Way Whale
Often regarded as ‘The Gateway to Western Australia’, Eucla is the easternmost locality in the State, home to 90 people and one beached whale. Built and designed in Albany, the Leeuwin Way Whale is 10m long and weighs close to an impressive 4,000kg.
11. A giant emu in Nannup
The shire of Nannup records many roadside emergencies and wildlife fatalities due to road collisions each year. As much of the township is surrounded by state forest, crash data from the past five years indicates that almost 29% of crashes in the region involved an animal.
The 3m tall emu sculpture, which was create from wrecked car parts, is part of the shire's Living with Emus project with the aim to generate discussions about road trauma and road safety.
Last updated: March 2022
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