Wood you like to visit a towering tomahawk and grab a load of quality kindling at the same time? I’ll go out on a limb and take that as a yes, so hatchet a plan to swing by Big Axe Firewood in beautiful Box Hill!
The Axe lives beside busy Windsor Road, ready to welcome anyone lumbering along. He’s behind a fence, so I asked the nice lady in the chop if I could take a few happy snaps. She said yes and didn’t even ask me to stump up cash for the honour!
As you can see, I was dressed pretty sharply for the occasion. Did I cut it as a big, rugged lumberjack in my flannel tunic? Chop chop with your answer, I don’t want to have to axe you again???
The Axe looks fantastic and is almost as large as his twin up north in Kew. His owners obviously love him, because he’s been freshly painted and the yard he’s in is well maintained. I just hope he doesn’t hook up with the Hardware Man and try to lop down the nearby Big Koala‘s tree!
For more information on this massive marvel without having to cleave home, log on to the Big Axe’s website. You could even send him a tree-mail. Don’t worry, there are no hackers on there!
The Big Axe is, quite surprisingly, single. He is, however, hoping to find a girlfriend on the popular dating app Timber.
I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay I sleep all night and visit The Big Axe all day!
Axe yourself this – how much excitement can you handle? If the answer is ‘plenty’, then swing by The Big Axe, which rests happily in front of the iKew Visitor Information Centre.
The original sculpture was built by Rufus McCarthy in 1979, celebrating both his brother, world-champion axeman Mannie McCarthy, and the local timber industry. It was modelled on a Tasmanian plumb axe and was an astonishing nine metres long.
For the woodchopping purists out there, that’s EIGHT TIMES the length of a real Tasmanian plumb axe.
The Big Axe became a welcome sight on the trip between Sydney and Brisbane. Family trips away hadn’t really started until you’d seen that wonderful whacker.
Sadly, termites did a real hatchet job on the attraction, leading to its replacement in 2002. Gibson Engineering restored the head, whilst local legend ray O’Neill carved a new eight-metre-long handle out of a blackbutt log.
The statue was rebuilt once again in 2017 by the clever – or should that be cleaver? – members of the Kendall Men’s Shed. The 800kg tomahawk now rests on supports that are axe-actly two metres shorter than the old ones. That should make happy snaps a little easier to take.
I’m sure the unveiling had locals Kew-ing up for a look!
The highway bypassed the town in 2009. These days, there’s little more than a cluster of curious Big-thusiasts admiring this roadside oddity at any one time. It allows for a quieter, more intimate encounter with the icon. Far from the maddening crowds, one can truly appreciate the nostalgic charm of this classic piece of Australiana.
Just make sure you’re looking sharp – because The Big Axe certainly is!
Careful with that axe, Bigs!
The Bardot Family’s 2026 visit to Kew uncovered a delightful surprise: the Visitor Centre was selling not one, not two, but three Big Axe magnets. There’s also a range of patches and stickers – so get ready to chop till you drop!
The chop-ularity of this monument has even led to a replica in Western Sydney, and another down in Tasmania. Alright, they’re not axe-actly the same, but they’re close enough.
The volunteers at the Visitor Centre are always up for a chat, and the nearby park is a great place to stretch your legs, so make sure you don’t axe-dentally pass by this attraction!
