GO BIG or go HOME
As a young girl, my mother and I spent a few years living in the regional NSW towns of Cootamundra and Ardlethan. They were halcyon times characterised by long, hot summer days, kicking around in the bush with mates and a true sense of small-town community, punctuated by trips to the Big Smoke to visit my grandparents.
Back in the late 1970s, the Hume Highway was bumpy, narrow and slow — not the long stretch of grey multi-laned efficiency it is today. Travelling with an annoying “are we there yet” kid in the back seat meant taking breaks in towns en route, many of which are now bypassed by the freeway.
One of my favourite stops was Goulburn because of the Big Merino. To an adult it may be a cheesy, outlandish attempt to showcase the region’s fine wool pedigree, but to a kid it was awesome. Standing tall on the main road next to the servo, the Big Merino was a behemoth, a gaudy fascination, but also a playground. I could barely contain my excitement running up the staircase inside to stare out at the town and hills beyond through the ram’s eyes.
The Big Merino is just one engorged statue in a much-loved Aussie tradition of building big stuff as a tourist magnet to showcase our agricultural or artistic prowess. Impressive? Mostly. Corny?
