Entry from April 06, 2005
Big Pineapple (Australian icon)
Australia has "the Big Pineapple." It also has a "Big Banana" and a "Big Prawn" and a "Big Merino." It's a big country.
"The Big Pineapple" is a tourist plantation near Brisbane, in Queensland. Its a 16-meter high fibreglass thing. It was designed by Bill Taylor, who used to work at the United Nations but moved back to Australia in the early 1970s.
http://www.bigpineapple.com.au/info.html
Welcome to Australia's number one tourist attraction. Established in 1971, "The Big Pineapple" offers a day of fun and entertainment for the whole family. Just one hours easy drive north of Brisbane, on Queensland's beautiful Sunshine Coast, your whole family can enjoy the beauty of the lush tropical fruit plantations, sample Queensland style foods, come face to face with Australian wildlife or shop for quality arts, crafts and souvenirs.
Visitors to the plantation are greeted by an imposing 16m high, fibreglass Pineapple Icon and are invited to explore its interior to discover more about Queensland's Tropical Fruit industries, or to simply take in some of the best Sunshine Coast rural views from the top level.
28 December 1998, Australian Financial Review, pg. 20:
Big Oyster, Prawn to Adorn NSW Coast in Tourist Complex
By Beverley Mackay
Australia's Big Banana and Pineapple will soon be joined by a seafood dish- $24 million worth of Big Prawn and Big Oyster are about to appear on the NSW coastline.
Ballina will have a 14m pink prawn looking over a $12 million blue tinted retail centre, hotel and service station tourist complex. Taree will have the same but with a Big Oyster.
LA Developments plan the two complexes in what they hope will become a chain of service station tourist complexes along the NSW coast.
The development group, headed by Louis and Attila Mokany, have already developed the Big Ram at Goulburn and a similar service station complex at Albury. LA had hoped to have a Big Murray Grey Bull at Albury but it was opposed by the local council.
16 January 1999, The Australian:
For his second feature, The Land of the Long White Sheila, Johnstone is taking the camp notion of "bigness" to an extreme. He describes it as a hyper-real comedy adventure, involving two dumb Texan boys who travel around Australia on a mission to visit the big icons - the Big Pineapple, Big Prawn, Big Bull, Big Merino, Big Sapphire and so on.
15 July 2004, Courier-Mail, pg. 19:
Rough end threatens Big Pineapple
The famous landmark should be on the Heritage Register, write Lisanne Gibson and Joanna Besley
Of all Queensland's outdoor cultural objects, the Big Pineapple is one of its best known
THE Sunshine Plantation -- home of the Big Pineapple -- went into liquidation in May. Luckily, we are not about to lose our most famous icon to the developer's ball just yet. Businessman Peter Auld has taken over the retail and tour aspects of the Sunshine Plantation which means, for now, the Big Pineapple is still accessible.
(...)
Of all Queensland's outdoor cultural objects, indeed of all its icons, the Big Pineapple is one of its best known. The 16-metre-high fibreglass pineapple stands on top of a rise at the Sunshine Plantation near Nambour on the Sunshine Coast.
It was installed by Bill and Lynne Taylor when they bought a small holding of 23 hectares in 1971. In less than 12 months they had transformed this humble pineapple plantation into a major tourist attraction. The Big Pineapple received the inaugural award for Australian Tourism Development in 1971.
(...)
Bill Taylor is no ordinary Queensland farmer. In 1950 he joined the staff of the United Nations and worked for the next 20 years with legendary leaders such as Eleanor Roosevelt. In the early 1970s he came back to Australia for family reasons. He and his family settled on the Sunshine Coast and embarked on what was then a totally new concept in agri-tourism, the now famous Sunshine Plantation.
26 January 2005, Sydney Morning-Herald, pg. 17:
We pride ourselves on the vast array of ugly "big" things, such as the Big Merino, the Big Pineapple and the Big Banana and, as symbols of our ingenious methods of out-of-the-square patriotism, the possibilities remain endless. Here, more than most countries, clothes do not make the man or woman. A millionaire can look like a plumber, or indeed be a plumber, such is our relaxed approach to a sartorial hierarchy.
15 February 2005, Courier-Mail, pg. 9:
THE Big Pineapple, Big Prawn and Big Banana are among Australia's iconic attractions -- now the Big Surfboard is about to be launched on the Gold Coast.
"The Big Pineapple" is a tourist plantation near Brisbane, in Queensland. Its a 16-meter high fibreglass thing. It was designed by Bill Taylor, who used to work at the United Nations but moved back to Australia in the early 1970s.
http://www.bigpineapple.com.au/info.html
Welcome to Australia's number one tourist attraction. Established in 1971, "The Big Pineapple" offers a day of fun and entertainment for the whole family. Just one hours easy drive north of Brisbane, on Queensland's beautiful Sunshine Coast, your whole family can enjoy the beauty of the lush tropical fruit plantations, sample Queensland style foods, come face to face with Australian wildlife or shop for quality arts, crafts and souvenirs.
Visitors to the plantation are greeted by an imposing 16m high, fibreglass Pineapple Icon and are invited to explore its interior to discover more about Queensland's Tropical Fruit industries, or to simply take in some of the best Sunshine Coast rural views from the top level.
28 December 1998, Australian Financial Review, pg. 20:
Big Oyster, Prawn to Adorn NSW Coast in Tourist Complex
By Beverley Mackay
Australia's Big Banana and Pineapple will soon be joined by a seafood dish- $24 million worth of Big Prawn and Big Oyster are about to appear on the NSW coastline.
Ballina will have a 14m pink prawn looking over a $12 million blue tinted retail centre, hotel and service station tourist complex. Taree will have the same but with a Big Oyster.
LA Developments plan the two complexes in what they hope will become a chain of service station tourist complexes along the NSW coast.
The development group, headed by Louis and Attila Mokany, have already developed the Big Ram at Goulburn and a similar service station complex at Albury. LA had hoped to have a Big Murray Grey Bull at Albury but it was opposed by the local council.
16 January 1999, The Australian:
For his second feature, The Land of the Long White Sheila, Johnstone is taking the camp notion of "bigness" to an extreme. He describes it as a hyper-real comedy adventure, involving two dumb Texan boys who travel around Australia on a mission to visit the big icons - the Big Pineapple, Big Prawn, Big Bull, Big Merino, Big Sapphire and so on.
15 July 2004, Courier-Mail, pg. 19:
Rough end threatens Big Pineapple
The famous landmark should be on the Heritage Register, write Lisanne Gibson and Joanna Besley
Of all Queensland's outdoor cultural objects, the Big Pineapple is one of its best known
THE Sunshine Plantation -- home of the Big Pineapple -- went into liquidation in May. Luckily, we are not about to lose our most famous icon to the developer's ball just yet. Businessman Peter Auld has taken over the retail and tour aspects of the Sunshine Plantation which means, for now, the Big Pineapple is still accessible.
(...)
Of all Queensland's outdoor cultural objects, indeed of all its icons, the Big Pineapple is one of its best known. The 16-metre-high fibreglass pineapple stands on top of a rise at the Sunshine Plantation near Nambour on the Sunshine Coast.
It was installed by Bill and Lynne Taylor when they bought a small holding of 23 hectares in 1971. In less than 12 months they had transformed this humble pineapple plantation into a major tourist attraction. The Big Pineapple received the inaugural award for Australian Tourism Development in 1971.
(...)
Bill Taylor is no ordinary Queensland farmer. In 1950 he joined the staff of the United Nations and worked for the next 20 years with legendary leaders such as Eleanor Roosevelt. In the early 1970s he came back to Australia for family reasons. He and his family settled on the Sunshine Coast and embarked on what was then a totally new concept in agri-tourism, the now famous Sunshine Plantation.
26 January 2005, Sydney Morning-Herald, pg. 17:
We pride ourselves on the vast array of ugly "big" things, such as the Big Merino, the Big Pineapple and the Big Banana and, as symbols of our ingenious methods of out-of-the-square patriotism, the possibilities remain endless. Here, more than most countries, clothes do not make the man or woman. A millionaire can look like a plumber, or indeed be a plumber, such is our relaxed approach to a sartorial hierarchy.
15 February 2005, Courier-Mail, pg. 9:
THE Big Pineapple, Big Prawn and Big Banana are among Australia's iconic attractions -- now the Big Surfboard is about to be launched on the Gold Coast.
Posted by Barry Popik
Nicknames of Other Places • Big Pineapple (Honolulu, Hawaii; San Jose, Costa Rica) • Wednesday, April 06, 2005 • Permalink
Nicknames of Other Places • Big Pineapple (Honolulu, Hawaii; San Jose, Costa Rica) • Wednesday, April 06, 2005 • Permalink
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