Not So Itsy Spider

Urana, New South Wales, Australia

Public art

✓

Current

Checked by Project Big Things · Aug 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A huge scrap-metal spider by Andrew Whitehead mounted high on Urana's water tower as a tribute to the town's former football-team nickname, The Spiders.

Before you stop

The spider is mounted high on an operational water tower -- view and photograph from the park/pool grounds only; do not attempt to climb the tower or cross onto restricted water-infrastructure land.

Parking on site

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Recommended arrival available

Onsite parking

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

A free Explorer account reveals the exact recommended arrival point.

Not So Itsy Spider

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 35.3364° S, 146.2710° E

FIELD GUIDE

The story

The Not So Itsy Spider is not on a plinth. It is mounted on the side of Urana's water tower, and how it got there is the best part of the story.

Andrew Whitehead, the scrap metal artist who made it, is afraid of heights. He installed it himself anyway: up a sixteen-metre ladder, then around the thirty-centimetre rim of the tower carrying an eight-kilogram bracket and eight metres of cable. Once the bracket and cable were fixed, a cherry picker lifted the spider into position and it was secured with three cables. That is a genuinely alarming way to spend a morning, and it is documented by both the NSW Government and regional tourism.

The subject is local rather than arachnological. Until the 1980s the Urana football team was known as The Spiders, and the sculpture is a tribute to a club nickname that has otherwise passed out of use. It is a memorial to a name – which is a slighter thing than most towns build monuments to, and rather a moving one in a small Riverina town where the football club is the social centre.

It is described in its sources as the second-largest spider sculpture in the world, a superlative with an admirably narrow field.

Being high on a water tower rather than at ground level changes how it works. You cannot stand beside it or touch it, and it is visible from a long way out across flat country – which is exactly how a spider on a wall ought to be encountered: seen from below, at a distance, slightly too large.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

NSW Government, Federation Council and current regional tourism sources all confirm the giant spider remains on Urana's water tower. It is treated here as Big Art/extended rather than a conventional core roadside replica.

ACCESS

The spider sits atop the water tower on Federation Way, immediately beside Victoria Park and the Urana War Memorial Pool. Victoria Park is a public reserve with a formed asphalt car-parking area (also used for self-contained-vehicle camping), about 45m from the tower -- a legitimate, lawful public arrival point for day visitors as well as campers. View and photograph from the park; do not enter restricted water-infrastructure land.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

Current – limited access

The Big Playable Guitar

Narrandera, New South Wales

A 5.82-metre playable plywood guitar built in Narrandera in 1988 and now displayed inside the Narrandera Destination and Discovery Hub.

Roadside giants

70 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Federation Council – Public Art

Federation Council · recorded 2026-08-22

Government

NSW Government – Not So Itsy Spider Sculpture

NSW Government · recorded 2026-08-22

Government

Visit the Murray – Not So Itsy Spider Sculpture

Visit the Murray · recorded 2026-08-22

Tourism

What we're still checking

A specific conservative visitor parking point for Not So Itsy Spider has not yet been independently verified.

Open-licence image search completed 24 August 2026. No defensible reusable image with file-level commercial-use provenance was verified in the completed Commons, government/open-licence and archival/open-collection sweep.

Something not right?

If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.

Suggest an update →Report a problem →