This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 12.5727° S, 131.1046° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
About ten metres of saltwater crocodile, standing upright, wearing boxing gloves. Humpty Doo has not tried to be subtle.
The joke works because of what the animal actually is. The Northern Territory holds the world's largest wild saltwater crocodile population – roughly 100,000 at the last count in 2017 – and the species is the largest living reptile on earth, reaching around six metres. Crocodiles have been protected here since 1971, and the recovery of the population since then is one of the more dramatic conservation turnarounds in Australia. They are not a novelty in the Top End; they are a genuine and constant consideration about where you can and cannot walk, swim or fish.
Putting gloves on one and standing it on its hind legs takes the single most feared animal in the region and makes it a cartoon prize-fighter. That is a very Top End way of dealing with something dangerous – not by pretending it is not there, but by making it the town mascot.
Humpty Doo sits on the Arnhem Highway just off the Stuart, on the road out to Kakadu, so it catches almost everyone driving east from Darwin. Tourism NT identifies the Big Boxing Crocodile as one of the Territory's contributions to Australia's famed Big Things, and Litchfield Council maps it as a photo stop.
Who built it, and when, are not established in the record – a common gap for the commercial Big Things of the Top End, and one better stated than filled.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
Tourism NT currently identifies the Big Boxing Crocodile as one of the NT’s contributions to Australia’s famed Big Things and describes it as about 10 metres tall. Litchfield Council also maps it as a tourism photo opportunity.
ACCESS
Navigate to the United Petroleum service-station site and use lawful onsite customer parking. Do not stop on Arnhem Highway for the sculpture.
