Australia's first Big Thing episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 3, 2026 · 10 MIN

Australia's first Big Thing

from Witness History · host BBC World Service

In 1963, a giant Scotsman sculpture appeared outside the Scotty Motel in Adelaide, in South Australia. A banana, a koala, and even a potato soon followed, paving the way for the country’s beloved Big Things - one of Australia’s quirkiest cultural phenomena.Paul Kelly was the artist behind both the Big Scotsman and the equally iconic Big Lobster. He and his daughter, Christobel Kelly, tell Stefania Gozzer how each sculpture came to life.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: The Big Scotsman. Credit: Paul Kelly's archive)

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 3, 2026

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Australia's first Big Thing

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