The Big Cow in Highfields, north of Toowoomba, has a history starting long before it arrived at its current place. It was one of many big things in Australia that started to rise from the 1960s, built to attract tourists at a Sunshine Coast dairy farm, called Country World.
The Big Cow was the star attraction at Country World, predominantly capturing attention of passing traffic on the Bruce Highway. Opening in 1976, Country World had an animal nursery, dairy products display, bush walk, and a restaurant with a dairy bar where you could get chocolate and strawberry milk from simulated teats.
A tractor with a horn that sounded like a moo, pulled a trolley for a trip around the farm, similar to the train at the Big Pineapple at neighbouring Nambour. Also like The Big Pineapple, the Nambour Bypass moved traffic away from Country World and patronage suffered. The family sold the farm but The Big Cow remained for many years afterward, without Country World.
In 2019, The Big Cow was donated to Highfields Pioneer Village, moved shortly afterwards in 2020 and opened later that year in September. Funding raised contributed to the restoration, including new footings and fencing around it.
Hugh Anderson was the architect of The Big Cow, however, he is responsible for a couple of others. Notably, The Big Gold Panner at Bathurst and the Big Soldier at Uralla. Made of concrete render over sub-structure to create a life-like image. It stands 7.9 metres tall, 12 metres long, and weighs 12,000 kilograms. Modelled on an Ayrshire cow, the first breed to arrive in Australia from Scotland in 1839. The Big Cow is around 6 times the height of a real sized Ayrshire cow, and 22 times its weight (they are typically around 1.3 metres tall and weigh around 545 kilograms).
A feature of the old big things was that many you could go inside of them. The Big Cow had this same feature and has been maintained at its location in Highfields. A set of stairs leads up to the left side of The Big Cow. At the platform before entering, look closely and you can see Hugh Anderson’s signature at the back of the head, between the horns.
Inside, there is a partition running down the middle with lots of information about the history of The Big Cow and Country World through to the relocation to Highfields Pioneer Museum. There is also information about Hugh Anderson and his bark art, including one of his pieces.
