Having your Big Prawn — and eating it, too!
All the talk this week about demolishing Ballina’s Big Prawn has reminded me of a wedding I attended at Jindabyne back in 1991.
As we sat for the reception meal, the bloke sitting next to me struck up a conversation.
“Where are you from?” he asked — a standard conversation-starter.
“Ballina,” I replied.
“What do you think of the Big Prawn?” he asked.
“That bloody monstrosity,” was my reply.
“I helped design it,” said the man.
Whoops, I thought, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so undiplomatic.
But my uncomfortable feeling quickly turned to laughter as he described how they went about designing the Big Prawn.
“What we did was go out and buy the biggest prawn we could find,” he told me.
“We did all sorts of measuring and copying the dimensions of the prawns.
“Then we ate it!”
Was he fair dinkum? I didn’t care — I couldn’t help but laugh. This guy had a real sense of humour and didn’t seem at all to mind my ‘monstrosity’ description of his ‘baby’.
My attitude towards the Big Prawn at the time was that Ballina didn’t really need a ‘big something’ to sell itself; this town had it all — wonderful beaches, a river playground, a great lifestyle.
Mind you, my feelings towards the Big Prawn were softened when I saw the Big Oyster at Taree — now that really was a monstrosity, and a very ugly one at that. At least the Big Prawn looked like a prawn. The same couldn’t be said for the Big Oyster.
I still think Ballina ‘has it all’, so I’m a bit ambivalent about the future of the Big Prawn.
I can see the economic sense in the owner’s decision to pull it down. When the Pacific Highway bypass is completed, the prawn, in its present location, will be lost to passing tourists.
Do we need a replacement, as suggested by developer Chris Condon, who has offered to build a new Big Prawn at a service centre he is creating at the southern interchange of the highway bypass?
There’s been plenty of discussion on the issue this week, not just locally but around the nation, and even in cyberspace (there’s a Facebook page devoted to the Prawn’s impending demolition).
Supporters say the Big Prawn is now a local icon, a landmark, and Ballina will get a tarnished reputation as a town that ‘killed’ one of Australia’s Big Things.
Opponents probably think like I did when the Prawn was first built; that the town has its own natural attractions and doesn’t need gimickry to sell itself. And the Big Prawn in its present dilapidated condition is more of an eyesore than an attraction.
One local newspaper this week suggested that the Big Prawn should stay, because it is a symbol of one of the industries that made the town what it is.
It was even reported that former Ballina Shire councillor Graeme Ellis remarked when the original DA was before council that sugar cane growing was a major industry and perhaps a Big Cane Stalk would be appropriate.
The growing of corn, apart from timber-getting, was one of the major industries in the Ballina region in the late 1800s.
It’s just as well that other industries took over.
After all, if corn-growing had flourished into the 1900s, we might have been stuck with a Big Corn Cob.
So I suppose that if Ballina is to have Big Something, a Big Prawn it is.
A Big Cane Stalk or a Big Corn Cob? Perish the thought!
August 13th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Keep it…….Relocate it……Add colour…….DONE!!!!!
August 13th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I personally like the idea of ‘the big Pelican’, in memory of the late Lance Ferris know as the pelican man. It also would preserve his memory and the work he did in helping to save marine wildlife in the area.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:27 am
The entrance to Ballina is The Big Prawn. It should stay, but improved. Chris Condon has the right idea by proposing the information centre should be there. The new Prawn could accomodate a good roadside restaurant. The tourist shop would still be good there, and a Ballina History Museum could be situated there.
Ballina airport has everything advertising Byron and nothing about Ballina. We could at least get the driving tourists interested in what we have to offer. Let’s stop being number two to Byron and change that around by giving the tourist all the information he needs about Ballina.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Still on about the Big Prawn.
Although I have never liked the Big Prawn as it is, if it must be kept surely it could be put to some good use.
I have often thought it should be put back in the water so to speak.
So how about putting it on a boat and making it into a floating restaurant.
Imagine the tourists that would be attracted, the giant prawn coasting up and down the Richmond River.
Or maybe for those of a more environmental consciousness, it could be partly submerged into the river as a community interest and educational facility to bring awareness to life in the river. A much needed topic to be faced and dealt with of our beautiful river.
As we are now in the 21st century, let us look beyond the superficial facade and into some real worthy cause for this big pink creation.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:17 am
I recently met a Danish chap who is a sculptor/engineer of larger than life aquatic mammals which are on dislay in Denmark. I have mentioned to him the possibility of a new big prawn being established in Ballina and he has indicated his desire to b
e put in touch with the developer. I have photos of his work and can forward them on to you if you are interested.
Sincerely, Alex Arrighi
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
Excellent Alex. If you have any designs, let me know and I will post them.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:26 am
Further to my earlier e-mail, his work may be viewed on his website fauna-naturmodeller.dk Alex Arrighi
October 29th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Mr. Alex Arrighi
Hi, please contact me on my Email
Thanks
Vagn Iversen
Sculptor and engineering of marine mammals