Big Pineapple, Agricultural tourist attraction in Woombye, Australia.
The Big Pineapple is a 16-metre-high, two-level structure of fibreglass and steel at Woombye, Queensland, designed by Peddle Thorp and Harvey, Paul Luff, and Gary Smallcombe and Associates. It stands on a 165-hectare site that also holds pineapple and macadamia plantations, a small zoo, a farm animal nursery, a train ride and a Nutmobile. The complex was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 March 2009.
Bill and Lyn Taylor, an American couple, left office work and bought a 23-hectare pineapple farm, opening the Big Pineapple on 15 August 1971. A 1978 fire, started during an attempted break-in, damaged the shop and restaurant; the repaired complex was reopened by Governor-General Zelman Cowen. Visitor numbers passed one million a year in 1980, and the site was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 March 2009.
The site reflects Queensland's pineapple industry heritage and its role in shaping the Sunshine Coast identity. School groups often visit to learn about tropical agriculture, while families treat the plantation as a multigenerational outing that connects farming history with modern recreation.
The 165-hectare site lies on the north side of Nambour Connection Road at Woombye, just west of the Bruce Highway, about 1.5 km south-east of the town. A small train and the Nutmobile with carriages run around the grounds, so allow time to walk between the pineapple and macadamia plantations, the wildlife gardens and the animal nursery. Much of the visit is outdoors.
The venue hosts the annual Big Pineapple Music Festival, which Qantas Airways ranks among Australia's top ten regional music events. The interior of the giant fruit was originally designed as a multistory information center where visitors could understand pineapple cultivation from the inside out.
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