The Big Sphinx

As architecture this belongs to a very specific tradition – the programmatic building, where the structure advertises itself by being the thing. Australia has fewer of these than the United States, and most of the ones here are small. A sphinx as a hotel frontage at fifteen metres is at the ambitious end.

The Egyptian revival in Australian entertainment architecture ran through the 1920s cinema boom, after Tutankhamun's tomb, and produced some remarkable picture palaces. A 1990s suburban pub reaching for the same visual language is a long echo of that, and a slightly odd one – there is nothing Egyptian about North Geelong.

Which is the appeal. Unlike almost every other object in this catalogue, this one makes no claim to local produce, local industry or local history. The Big Banana is at a banana plantation; the Big Merino is in wool country. A sphinx in Geelong is pure theatre with no justification offered.

The only comparable entries here are the other imported-motif builds: the Dutch windmill at Coffs Harbour, the Bavarian and Swiss-themed structures in the alpine towns.

No record survives of the date or the builder.