On the side of the road in the now bypassed town of Kew, The Big Axe is one of the early big things in Australia. Originally built in 1978, the Big Axe celebrated the region’s timber industry, at the time changing from the hardwood-dominant era towards a plantation-based supply.
The 1970s was the peak hardwood era, harvesting trees like blackbutt, tallowwood, and spotted gum. Kew itself didn’t have a timber mill or wood processing facility, but it was the junction onto the highway from the nearby Heron Creek and Wauchope to the north. The timber industry set the identity of Kew, and being on the highway, it would have been a good town to place a big thing to encourage passing traffic to stop.
The Big Axe was rebuilt in 2002, after the original axe was eaten out by termites. The size of the new axe is 8 to 1 ratio of a normal sized axe.
There is a wooden sign on one of the posts the big axe is mounted on. It is severely weathered and difficult to read, but it says something like this:
Erected 1978
Rufus McCarthy
In honour of his brother Mannie McCarthy. World Champion Axeman and his unbeaten record, a 15″ log in 37 seconds.
There is mention of Mannie McCarthy in The Sporting Globe, March 31, 1937. There is also mention of M. McCarthy winning the Australian Championship in 1949, in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate.