A remote western Queensland town with a population of just 100 people has unveiled its own contribution to one of Australia's most beloved road-trip traditions, with a 4.6-metre giant yabby statue now standing proudly in Windorah, roughly 1,200 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.
The sculpture was revealed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Albert Street, giving the small outback community a landmark as large as its reputation for yabbying and its popular annual international yabby races held at nearby Cooper Creek.
A Symbol Worthy of the Town
For Barcoo Shire Mayor Sally O'Neil, the choice of subject matter was obvious. Windorah has long been known as a destination where locals and visitors pull up at Cooper Creek and reliably haul in yabbies by the handful. The yabby races have become a fixture on the town's social calendar, drawing crowds each year.
"At Cooper Creek you will pull up, go fishing, and you're bound to get a yabby or two, or five or more," Cr O'Neil said.
The project was funded by the state government at a cost of $13,000, and the mayor said she hoped the striking statue would catch the eye of passing tourists and give them a reason to stop and explore the town.
The Artist Behind the Giant Yabby
The commission went to Toowoomba-based artist Jobella Bennett, who took on the challenge after establishing herself in the region by hosting art classes in the central west. The call from the council, she recalled, was refreshingly straightforward.
"I got rung up and they were like, 'Could you make a yabby?' And I was like, 'Yeah, how big?' And they were like, 'As big as you can make it,'" she said.
Bennett spent three months bringing the crustacean to life using bird wire and sheet metal, producing what is her largest artwork to date. She described the project as a steep but rewarding learning curve, noting that she researched yabbies thoroughly before putting her tools to work.
"It's my first big project, I learned a lot," she said. "I do a lot of research when I'm making anything that's new to me, so I did a bit of yabby research and just started making."
Bennett said she hoped to take on more big things commissions in the future, and used the occasion to call for greater community support of local artists. "There's so many amazing artists out there and it's really nice that councils or the communities or whoever's organised it is actually backing artists," she said.
Australia's Big Things Keep Getting Bigger
The Windorah yabby joins a well-established tradition of big things across Australia, which includes other oversized crustaceans such as Ballina's big prawn and Cardwell's big crab, as well as iconic landmarks like Bowen's big mango, Tully's big gumboot and Woombye's big pineapple.
University of the Sunshine Coast history lecturer Amy Clarke said that while oversized roadside attractions were common in countries including Canada and the United States, Australia stood out for its continued enthusiasm in building new ones.
"Australia is still pedal to the floor, kind of, 'Let's build as many of them as we can,'" Dr Clarke said.
She noted a key difference between the Australian approach and that of other countries: here, the motivation tends to be community pride rather than commercial interest. Local councils, chambers of commerce and community groups frequently drive these projects, asking themselves how best to celebrate and champion their towns.
"It is often the case that it is really a kind of group project," Dr Clarke said, reflecting on how these structures have become an expression of collective local identity rather than simply a tourist grab.
For a remote outback community like those that dot inland Queensland, a landmark of this kind can carry real significance, offering both a point of civic pride and a reason for travellers to pause on their journey through the vast Australian interior.
