Queensland, Australia has had a “Big Pineapple” structure since 1971. A smaller “Big Apple” (four meters tall) was built in 1978 for a gas station in Applethorpe. In 2003, the “Big Apple” moved to Thulimbah, next to Vincenzo’s (cafe and store).
   
The “Big Apple” is on top of a pole and cannot be touched or entered. Vincenzo’s closed for three years, but planned to re-open (with the “Big Apple” intact) in 2021.
   
Similar “Big Apple” roadside attractions include a “Big Red Apple” in Cornelia, Georgia (1926-present), a “Big Apple” that was in Wathena, Kansas (1928-1940), a “Big Apple” kiosk in Mumbles, Swansea Bay, Wales (1930s-present), a “Big Apple” at Robinette’s Apple Haus in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1973-present), a “Big Apple” tourist information booth in Meaford, Ontario, Canada (1974-present), a “Big Apple” in Colborne, Ontario, Canada (1987-present), a “Big Apple” at the Big Apple Cafe & Event Centre in Waitomo Caves, New Zealand (1995-present), a “Big Apple” in Medina, New York (2000-present), a “Big Apple” at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (2008-present), “La Mela Reintegrata” or “The Apple Made Whole Again” at Central Station in Milan, Italy (2015-present) and the “Big Apple of New England” at the Johnny Appleseed Visitors Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts (2019-present).
         
   
Wikipedia: Thulimbah, Queensland
Thulimbah is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census the locality of Thulimbah had a population of 319 people. It borders New South Wales.
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Attractions
The town is home to one of Australia’s big things, a tourist attraction known as the “Big Apple”.
   
Trip Bucket
See
The Big Apple in Thulimbah 
From the “Landmark Legends of Stanthorpe”, “The original Big Apple, a Granny Smith, lived at the petrol station at Applethorpe from 1978. The steel and fibreglass sculpture stands 4m tall and the apple is 4.5m in diameter. It was crafted by local artisan Johnny Ross. It went into temporary retirement in 2003 when the Applethorpe site was redeveloped. After a brief facelift, the re-grafted apple emerged as a Royal Gala apple slightly north of town at Thulimbah. Its new home is Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple, which is situated on the opposite side of the new England Highway to Suttons Apple Orchard & Cidery.”
 
Granite Belt Wine Country
The Big Apple
In Queensland’s Apple Country
Stanthorpe’s Big Apple is 13km north of Stanthorpe along the New England Highway in the area called Thulimbah.
 
Stop of a photo holding up the apple, pretending to eat it – we and visitors alike can’t help but stop to take these fun photos.
 
Why a big apple?… well Stanthorpe and particularly the Granite Belt villages north of Stanthorpe such as Thulimbah are where all of Queensland’s apple crop is grown.  There are orchards everywhere around the countryside and Stanthorpe even has it’s own Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival every second year in February/May.
           
12 October 2004, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Queensland), “Vintage fare” by Amanda Gearing, pg. 8:
Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple just north of Stanthorpe showcases the region’s prime produce, and scoops up some sensational gelati.
 
26 September 2006, The Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills, NSW), “Why Sydney will cheer for a Broncos thrashing” by Ray Chesterton, pg. 19:     
Unsightly plastic monstrosities like the Big Apple at Thulimbah, the Big Pineapple at Nambour and the Big Bottle at Bundaberg.
 
Twitter
Bec Mezz
@Trisklin
Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple in Thulimbah- the rally point for the beginning our trip. There were nine of us http://instagr.am/p/SHdx4Ikkuv/
11:13 PM · Nov 16, 2012·Instagram
 
Big Things of Oz
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015
Big Apple – Thulimbah (Stanthorpe)
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Further Big Apple Facts
The original Big Apple, a Granny Smith, lived at the petrol station at Applethorpe from 1978, crafted by local artisan Johnny Ross. It went into temporary retirement in 2003 when the Applethorpe site was redeveloped. After a brief facelift, the re-grafted apple emerged as a Royal Gala apple slightly north of town at Thulimbah. Its new home is Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple - Source
 
DETAILS
Size: 4m
Year: 1978
Address: New England hwy, Thulimbah, QLD outside Vincenzo Café.
Photo Taken: 2013
     
Twitter
australian kitsch
@OzKitsch
She’ll Be Apples
#1 The Big Apple, Thulimbah, Qld
9:26 PM · Sep 16, 2016·Twitter for iPad
   
Twitter
MeasureUp
@_MeasureUp
An apple a day…  YUM!!!!
Vincenzo’s at The Big Apple in #Thulimbah QLD.
Camera with flash by our QLD technician Rach!... http://fb.me/8KLm6Z43Z
7:33 PM · May 30, 2017·Facebook
 
Twitter
Rebecca Gracie
@Cmjourno
At the Big Apple nearly to NSW @ Vincenzo’s https://instagram.com/p/BYUWp0mh0tN/
8:52 PM · Aug 27, 2017 from Thulimbah, Queensland·Instagram
   
Twitter
bianca
@beeeeonka
Replying to @beeeeonka and @goldbutts
Slightly north is Thulimbah, where you can do cheese tastings at Granite Belt Dairy (and also the Big Apple, which is underwhelming). Stanthorpe’s monthly markets are nice, but nothing special
1:45 AM · Jan 20, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
 
Stanthorpe Today (Australia)
Vincenzo’s to reopen, Big Apple here to stay
03/06/2021
SDRC has decided the Granite Belt’s iconic Big Apple is staying put, as Vincenzo’s lessees announce plans to reopen.
By Jess Baker
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Last week, after three years of closure, Stanthorpe resident Anna Schnitzerling announced that she and her husband Shane would be reopening tourism landmark ‘Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple’ at Thulimbah.
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Last week, at the council’s 26 May ordinary meeting, it was decided that the landmark would remain at its current location in front of Vincenzo’s, much to the relief of many Granite Belt residents.
 
Southern Downs councillor Stephen Tancred told his colleagues at the meeting, as he has several times before, that the Big Apple is in Stanthorpe’s DNA.
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At the time, Jason told Warwick and Stanthorpe Today that his family had paid approximately $20,000 for the Big Apple to be relocated to the land in front of Vincenzo’s in the early 2000s.