This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 40.7667° S, 145.2986° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
A giant rock lobster on the roof of a seafood shop, in a town under a volcanic plug, on the north-west corner of Tasmania.
Hursey Seafoods at 2 Alexander Terrace in Stanley carries it, and the landmark is repeatedly documented at the business, which remains active. The company has fished and sold out of Stanley for decades, and rock lobster is what the boats here go for.
Southern rock lobster from these waters is a serious export product. The fishery running along Tasmania's coast and through Bass Strait is among the most valuable in the state, and the animals are sold live into Asian markets at prices that make each pot a considerable proposition.
A lobster on a roof is also good design for the setting. Stanley is small, low and clustered beneath the Nut – the flat-topped volcanic plug that dominates everything – and a rooftop object in that townscape is visible from the surrounding streets in a way a ground-level one would not be.
The town has two entries in this catalogue. This one, and the Big Picture Frame positioned to frame the Nut itself, which is a rather different proposition: one advertises the local catch, the other advertises the view.
Stanley is a long way from anywhere – about an hour past Burnie on the far north-west coast – and the fact that it supports both a working lobster fleet and a tourism industry is the reason both objects exist.
The maker and its age are missing from the documentation.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
The landmark is repeatedly documented at Hursey Seafoods, and the seafood business remains active at 2 Alexander Terrace, Stanley.
ACCESS
The Big Rock Lobster is mounted on the roof of Hursey Seafoods at 2 Alexander Terrace, Stanley. The host venue is map-checked and current visitor information confirms car and coach parking. Navigate to Hursey Seafoods and use normal venue parking; the stored coordinate is the host site rather than a surveyed rooftop-sculpture centroid or individual parking bay.
