AusLeisure

Australia's newest 'Big Thing', the five metre tall Big Bogan, has been unveiled in the western NSW town of Nyngan.

Developed by Bogan Shire Council to “boost tourism” to the town, the cultural icon shows a classic ‘bogan’ standing proud with a mullet hairstyle and Southern Cross tattoo; wearing stubbies, a singlet and thongs while equipped with a fishing rod and esky.

Bogan Shire Council Mayor Ray Donald told media “the response has been very good, lots of interest."

The Council hope that the rusted-iron bogan statue in the centre of the 2,000-population town will draw tourists.

To complement the Big Thing, stubbie holders and replicas of the statue will soon be available in Bogan shops.

Long dismissed as tourist kitsch, Australia's ‘Big Things’ - giant models of everything from prawns to bananas - are now being heritage-listed and recognised as works of folk art. The gaudy structures, commissioned since the 1960s by country towns keen to attract tourists, have gathered respect as national icons.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a bogan as a "depreciative term for an unfashionable, uncouth, or unsophisticated person, especially of low social status".

16th August 2015 - AUSTRALIA URGED TO EMBRACE ITS ICONIC ‘BIG THINGS’

14th August 2015 - CONSTRUCTION COMMENCES AT THE BIG BANANA WATERPARK

8th April 2015 - BOGAN SHIRE COUNCIL PROPOSES ‘BIG BOGAN’ STATUE TO BOOST TOURISM

17th July 2012 - SURVEY REVEALS AUSTRALIA’S FAVOURITE ‘BIG THINGS’

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