This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 33.6388° S, 146.9738° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Eight hundred kilograms of Sherrin, five metres up, for a family from a town of a few hundred people.
The Danihers are the point. Four brothers – Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris – all played senior VFL/AFL football, all from Ungarie, which remains the only instance of four brothers from one family playing at that level in the modern era. Terry captained Essendon; Neale coached Melbourne. Their sister Dorothy and their parents kept the farm.
Neale Daniher was later diagnosed with motor neurone disease and founded FightMND, which has raised tens of millions of dollars and made the Big Freeze at the MCG a fixture of the football calendar. He has become one of the most widely respected figures in Australian sport, and the recognition now extends well beyond football.
So the tribute in Bing Wallder Park has grown heavier since it was built. What began as a monument to a remarkable sporting family now also stands for a public illness borne in front of the country.
Bland Shire Council currently promotes the Big Football as a permanent visitor attraction, and its 2026/27 operational plan includes a refurbishment allocation – which is the most useful fact in this record. Budget lines are the difference between an object that is maintained and one that is merely present, and very few Big Things in this catalogue have documented ongoing civic stewardship.
A Sherrin is also the correct object. Not a generic ball: the specific leather ball of Australian football, made with a shape and stitching that no other code uses.
As for its age and an attribution – nothing.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
Bland Shire Council currently promotes the Big Football as a permanent visitor attraction in Bing Wallder Park and its 2026/27 operational plan includes a refurbishment allocation, confirming ongoing civic stewardship.
ACCESS
Public park landmark with toilets, playground and picnic facilities. Use normal Bing Wallder Park access and parking; approach the monument on foot.
