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So where, when and why did a country’s obsession with extravagant monuments begin? We can’t be sure, but we’re led to believe the tradition may well have been born after two bottles of whisky were consumed by a Scottish migrant and his family in South Australia in the early 1960s. The result was the 5m-high Big Scotsman, also known as Scotty, in the Adelaide suburb of Medindie.
He is, appropriately enough, found outside Scotty’s Motel. It is owned by Yanka Shopov, a former Bulgarian refugee who came to Australia more than 60 years ago.
“People love it,” she says of her lofty piper. “Years ago I remember little kids used to cry if we were booked out and they wanted to sleep under the Scotsman. But the thing is he is very expensive. He is exposed to the weather day and night (and) it costs between A$7,000 (£4,300; $5,400) to A$9,000 to have him painted. It’s not cheap but he draws attention to the business here.”
Wombats, winches and windmills are also honoured in splendid fashion, along with dead fish, cigars and strawberries.
“Fundamentally, we’re probably a little bit on the kitsch side,” concludes Ms Freeman, from Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures.
“Whether you’re going fishing and someone says they caught the biggest mud crab or it’s the longest road to here, we just have a fixation with big things.”
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