This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 35.0948° S, 139.8964° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Karoonda's ram has school tiles around its base, made by children from two area schools and by local residents.
The two-metre concrete Merino has stood on the Railway Lawns in the town's main street since 1997, originating from a concept developed by the local resident Don Anderson and facilitated by the Karoonda Development Group. In 2001 the tiles were added – made by students at Karoonda Area School and East Murray Area School along with residents, and set around the structure.
That second stage is what lifts it. A concrete ram commissioned by a development group is a civic object. A concrete ram with a hundred hand-made tiles around its foot, each one somebody's, is a community object, and the difference is four years and a lot of volunteer time.
Karoonda sits sixty kilometres north-east of Murray Bridge in the South Australian Mallee. It was first surveyed in 1910, proclaimed a town on 11 December 1913, and had grown into a thriving railway and farming centre by 1914. The name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning winter camp.
Agriculture is still the district's largest industry – grains, pulses, canola, wool and livestock – and the annual two-day Karoonda Farm Fair and Show draws over ten thousand visitors, which for a town this size is an extraordinary figure.
The ram is on the Railway Lawns, on public ground, free and always accessible.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
Karoonda’s current council visitor site says the Big Ram has stood in the town’s main street since 1997 and identifies it as a local icon. South Australia Tourism likewise continues to promote the Big Ram as part of Karoonda’s farming heritage.
ACCESS
The Big Ram stands on the public Railway Lawns (11 Railway Terrace) in Karoonda's main street, directly fronting Railway Terrace. Council confirms this main-street reserve as the sculpture's site; visitors lawfully park kerbside along Railway Terrace beside the lawns and approach on foot.
South Australian Tourism Commission · recorded 2026-08-22
Current official tourism destination listing.
Tourism
What we're still checking
Railway Lawns is confirmed as the Big Ram viewing site, but a preferred lawful vehicle arrival/parking point has not yet been independently map-checked.
Something not right?
If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.
