Australia’s iconic giant banana at the Big Banana Fun Park in Coffs Harbour, opened in 1964 and widely recognised as a landmark of the Australian Big Things tradition.
Public toilets
onsite
Food or drink nearby
onsite
Free
onsite
Private to your Passport.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
No recommended arrival yet
We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.
This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 30.2749° S, 153.1337° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
1964. Everything else in this catalogue comes after it.
The Big Banana is where the Australian tradition begins – a walk-through banana beside the Pacific Highway at a working plantation, built to stop cars, and successful enough that the idea spread across two countries and produced the several hundred objects this catalogue now records.
What is easy to forget is how modest the original proposition was. A banana grower wanted people to pull in and buy fruit. There was no tradition to join, no tourism strategy, and no expectation that the thing would still be standing sixty years later with a fun park around it.
The precinct has grown well beyond the object: a toboggan run, a water park, ice skating, and rides, with free entry to the park itself and paid activities separately. The banana is now the smallest part of the operation and the entire reason it exists.
Coffs Harbour's bananas are the other half of the story. The district was a major growing area, the hillsides were covered in plantations, and while the industry has contracted sharply as production moved north to Queensland, the banana remains the town's identity.
The object's influence is measurable in this catalogue. The Coffs Harbour windmill went up on the same highway within a few years; the Goulburn merino, the Woombye pineapple and the Ballina prawn all follow. Every giant fruit in Australia descends from this one.
Who designed and built it is not recorded here.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
The current operator and NSW Government both confirm the attraction at 351 Pacific Highway. The fun park is active, with free entry to the park precinct and paid rides/activities available separately.
ACCESS
Navigate to The Big Banana Fun Park at 351 Pacific Highway. Onsite car and coach parking, toilets, food and visitor facilities are available.
