The Big Murray Cod

The pairing of sculpture and hatchery is the interesting part. This is not a fish outside a pub; it is a monumental version of a species being actively bred a few metres away for release into Victorian waters. Native fish stocking has become one of the larger recreational fisheries programmes in the country, and Murray cod are its headline species.

The fish deserves the scale. Murray cod are Australia's largest freshwater fish, historically recorded well over a metre and at weights that would now be extraordinary, slow-growing and long-lived. Populations declined severely through the twentieth century under fishing pressure, river regulation and habitat loss, and hatchery stocking is part of the response.

Sixteen metres also comfortably outsizes the other cod in this catalogue, the 6.5-metre Natureworks fish at Goondiwindi built for the Lions Club's fiftieth in 2015.

The centre is current and open seven days, with substantial visitor facilities – so this is a genuine destination rather than a photo stop.