A road trip of Australia’s fiberglass monuments
The Big Gumboot
If you find rainy weather depressing, then steer clear of Tully. The northern Queensland town, situated about halfway between Cairns and Townsville, claims to be Australia’s wettest place. Its average annual rainfall is a drenching 4,490mm, with the heavens opening up about 150 days per year. This mightn’t be good for getting the washing dry, but it’s proved to be a great hook for local tourism. The Big Gumboot is Tully’s nod to its meteorological significance.
Technically, the title of “wettest place” actually swings between Tully and two of its neighbours, the towns of Babinda and Innisfail. But, as we all know by now, no-one can argue with the celebrity and attention-grabbing power of a Big Thing. In fact, when the Big Gumboot was officially opened in 2003, the town of Babinda was so annoyed, its residents immediately swore they’d erect a Big Umbrella to steal Tully’s thunder. Unfortunately for Babinda, the non-appearance of this Big Umbrella has only helped to reinforce Tully’s claim as “wettest place”.
The inter-town competition between Tully, Babinda and Innisfail has been raging for over 40 years, egged on by the annual Golden Gumboot Festival, where a rubber boot, spray-painted gold, is awarded each year to the town with the highest official rainfall. Babinda’s indignation over the Big Gumboot is understandable – the town actually has more rainfall than Tully. However, the all-time record of 7,900mm, set in 1950, belongs to Tully.
This record-breaking statistic is what determined the Big Gumboot’s height of 7.9m. Made of fiberglass and steel, the eye-catching structure took several years to become a reality, from conception to unveiling, and cost a grand total of $90,000. It contains an internal spiral staircase leading to an open-air observation deck, (better bring an umbrella), which offers sweeping views of the town.
The Big Gumboot’s official unveiling was postponed several times due to heavy rain, and even when it was finally “dedicated” in May 2003 the moving ceremony was cut short by another drenching. Since then, it’s proved to be an enormously popular drawcard for local tourism, pulling in between 300 and 500 tourists every week.
In 2008 the Big Gumboot was the subject of a documentary called Big Dreamers. Sydney filmmaker Camille Hardman had lived in Tully for nine months and had witnessed first hand the backstage controversies, budget blowouts and internal politicking that only a true Big Thing can inspire. When Cyclone Yasi struck in February 2011, the Big Gumboot almost toppled over, but managed to hold its ground, even though it was closed to the public for the rest of the year.
However, an even greater storm is already brewing with the release of 2011’s official rainfall figures. Once again, Babinda has ended up being wetter than Tully, this time by 173mm. They really should get cracking with that Big Umbrella.
