What is the Golden Gumboot in Tully, Queensland?

The Golden Gumboot – a 7.9 metre tall roadside Big Thing – can be found in Tully, northern Queensland.

Australia has a strange fascination with Big Things – supersized, cheap-looking roadside attractions, designed to lure visitors off the highway.

There are hundreds of them, with quality varying significantly. But embracing them and ticking them off as you drive past has become something of an Australian tradition.

Better known examples of Big Things include the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, the Giant Murray Cod in Swan Hill, Victoria, and the Big Pineapple in Nambour, Queensland. There’s also the Big Kangaroo in Border Village, South Australia and Big Ned Kelly in Glenrowan, Victoria.

Golden Gumboot in Tully, Queensland

One of the most entertaining examples of such Big Things pops up in Tully, northern Queensland. Tully, 141km south of Cairns and just inland from the coast, is home to the Golden Gumboot.

This giant, yellow wellington boot is made out of fibreglass. The Golden Gumboot is 7.9 metres tall. There is a staircase inside, which can be climbed for views out over the town. Opened in 2003, the Golden Gumboot cost $90,000 to construct, and it celebrates the Queensland town’s dubious claim to fame as the wettest place in Australia.

That claim to fame is dubious not only because it’s hardly an incentive to visit, but because it’s probably not true. Babinda, further north, generally gets higher annual rainfall.

Nonetheless, the height of the Golden Gumboot has symbolic importance. 7.9 metres was the amount of annual rainfall Tully received in 1950 – still the record annual rainfall for any populated place in Australia.

Things to do in Tully

Visiting the Golden Gumboot requires a short detour off the Bruce Highway that runs alongside Queensland’s coast. Tully’s very own Big Thing stands proud on Butler Street, next to the Golden Gumboot public toilet.

All that rainfall does have its upside, however. The Tully River is generally regarded as the best place in Australia for white-water rafting. Rafting tours tend to depart from Cairns rather than Tully, however. You turn off the Bruce Highway at Tully on the drive from Townsville to Mission Beach.

More Queensland towns to visit

The massive markets of Eumundi

Platypus-viewing hotspot Yungaburra

Rainforest-shrouded Cape Tribulation

The coloured sands of Rainbow Beach

Bee Gees hometown Redcliffe