Wauchope, Australia

Big Bull

Large enough to house an internal gift shop.

Australia is home to more than just a couple of big things. The big country, it has been said, has a love of similarly-oversized objects. The Big Bull used to be only one of a loosely related set of about 150 sculptures and large structures sprinkled across the country. Most of these, the Big Bull included, when it was still standing, serve as some of the country’s top tourist traps and can be found along major roads and highways or between prominent travel destinations.

Standing 14 meters tall and measuring more than 20 meters long, the Big Bull of Wauchope was one of the biggest of the big things before it was torn down. A cement Holstein just off of the Oxley Highway between Wauchope, New South Wales, and the Pacific Highway, the Big Bull was large enough to house a gift shop on the ground floor and a beef display.

The brainchild of a Wauchope dairy farmer, John Eggert, to draw more tourists to the area and increase revenues from outsiders, the Big Bull served its purpose. Even after the gift shop inside of the bull closed to the public, tourists were still stopping by the Eggert dairy farm in Wauchope to take pictures of the bull, according to a report from ABC Rural.

“Everybody including lots of people in the families had some really good parties there. Most of my kids had their 21st birthdays in the big bull so it was a bit sad to actually see it go,” Eggert told ABC Rural the weekend after the Big Bull was torn down in 2007. “It was just sitting there doing nothing so it was time for it to be removed.”