Victorian bushranger Ned Kelly is known for his handsome beard, wacky armour, and penchant for ruthlessly slaughtering innocent people. He is not, however, known for taking relaxing holidays in sunny Queensland.
So how did this seven-metre-tall tribute to Australia’s favourite end up in Maryborough? Your fearless reporter, Bigs Bardot, headed to the scene to find out!
My quest for the truth started by asking Ned himself, but the oversized outlaw wouldn’t snitch. He’s the strong, silent type, you see. The investigation continued inside the adjoining service station which does not, tragically, sell Big Ned memorabilia. The receptionist could only theorise that Ned might’ve been the original owner of the station. Nice guess, but unlikely.
Then a bloke wandering past told me the servo used to be known as Kelly’s Roadhouse – after the owners – and Ned was probably built as a play on that name. A likely story, but before I could verify these claims a wild-eyed resident of the nearby Ned Kelly Motel stumbled over to inform me that The Big Ned Kelly watches him in his sleep, at which point I decided to take my inquisition literally anywhere else.
Even the lovely ladies at the Visitor Information Centre weren’t quite sure why Ned was built – although they did admit to finding him cute. Oh, Ned, if you’re not stealing horses you’re stealing hearts!
Buckets of fun!
My research yielded little useful information about this tribute to Ned. I did, however, get to spend the afternoon with a particularly impressive Big and foster lifelong friendships with the locals.
“How long has Ned been here?” I asked one friendly-looking chap.
“Bigs, he’s been here as long as I can remember,” he grinned. “So at least 50 years.”
“Fifty years?”
“Fifty years!”
Unlike the slightly smaller Big Ned Kelly in Glenrowan – you know, the place where the real Ned was captured – it will probably never be known exactly how and why this gentleman of the road came to be. The history of The (Not So) Big Ned Kelly down south in NSW is also, sadly, a mystery.
Maryborough really should be home to the Big Mary Poppins, because it’s the birthplace of the magical nanny’s creator, author P. L. Travers. Maybe they could pop a bonnet on Ned’s head, give him an umbrella, and call him Mary. How supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
