You’ll never tyre of this swan! Head to Southport’s Musgrave Park and there, in the middle of a peaceful pond, you’ll find the elegant Big Tyre Swan. As the name suggests, she’s been carved from an old tyre off a mining truck – so tread carefully!
Local artists Simon Laws and Donna Marcus created The Big Tyre Swan back in 2007. They were inspired by that fondly-remembered piece of Australiana, the humble (and normally quite small) tyre swan. These home-made gems once adorned front yards across the country but are now, sadly, almost extinct.
Although after reading this, I bet you’re thinking of pinching the tyres off your neighbour’s Daewoo and making one – aren’t you?
Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved tale The Ugly Duckling also inspired the piece, whilst Michelangelo (the sculptor, not the pizza-guzzling Ninja Turtle) inspired this Big Thing’s ever-so-slightly pompous official title of I Saw the Angel in the Marble and I Carved to Set Him Free.
I think we’ll stick with The Big Tyre Swan!
Simon and Donna took a three-tonne steel belted tyre, slice it up, turned it outside-in, made it look more or less like a long-necked, web-footed water bird, then slathered it in reflective road marking paint. Voila – they had themselves a Big.
You’ll agree that it really is swan in a million!
And I think to myself, what a SWAN-derful world!
Once completed, the sculpture was the subject of fierce bidding betwixt the hoity-toity of the fine arts community. A fellow named Pat Corrigan ultimately bought her, then donated the swan to the good people of the Gold Coast.
In 2009, The Big Tyre Swan finally found her forever home in a quiet corner of Musgrave Park, floating on tranquil pond, surrounded by emerald lilies. That means taking a photo with The Swan is a little more difficult than expected, but it’s worth it. There could not be a more appropriate place for this Big to live, and standing on the shore watching her is a moving – some might even say life-affirming – experience.
Best of all, The Swan’s right next to the off-leash dog area. So now it’s possible to take your best friend for a run and admire an oversized roadside attraction, all in one place.
As I was swanning around for these photos, I bumped into a plucky little pekingese named Newman. A fixture of the Southport canine scene and self-confessed Big Things tragic, Newman begged me to give him a shout-out. So hi, Newman!
After admiring The Swan duck over to see the Goldie’s other roadside attractions, such as Maddie & Mike, Dream Rider, Geckomania!, Blue Perspective, The Big Wheelie Bin, Katey Seagull, Ring-O, Bigfoot and Kangaroo Kat.
Forget Dreamworld and Melba’s – everyone’s heading to the GC for the BIGS!
Splendidly kitsch and totally unlike any other Big you might spot, The Big Tyre Swan offers a touch of timeless magic amongst the glitz and glamour of the Gold Coast.
You’d be a silly old goose not to visit!
