AUSTRALIA is renowned for having big things to show what a region stands for.
Whether it’s the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, the Big Pineapple on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast or The Big Cheese in Bega, there are estimated to be at least 150 of these tourist attractions around the country.
What about one for Mildura?
Don Wilson not only has an idea for it – but also the shell for it at this scrapyard in Cabarita.
“What about having ‘The Big Grape’ down near the (George Chaffey) bridge?” he said.
“We’ve got a big oval thing that’s 30-foot (9m) high. We’d had this for 15 or so years – and it came from the old Snakes and Ladders (fun park, which is now the Garden of Hope).
“We’d like to set it up as a Big Grape down near Nowingi Place on the riverfront.
“If you set it up there, it’d be like the Big Banana or Big Pineapple, and it would represent the true identity of Mildura.”
The potential frame for the Big Grape is just one of many grand relics at Mr Wilson’s salvage yard on Flora Avenue.
There’s also a giant, 10m-high chicken head, an old theme-park dinosaur, several cranes – one dating back to the late 19th century – and two double-decker buses.
Mr Wilson, an “80-something” who started operating the yard with his father nearly seven decades ago, is quite the character in recounting stories of how he came into possession of them.
“We tell people that the dinosaur and the giant chook were running through here on their way to Broken Hill and we snavelled them and put them in the yard,” he said with a laugh.
“We’ve had the big chook head here for about 15 years. We got that from the old Snakes and Ladders fun park at Lake Hawthorn.
“We bought the dinosaur from Humpty Dumpty (tourist attraction) when it closed about 20 years ago.
“The owner of Woodsies rock shop (which is now Woodsies Gem Shop) and his boys built it and then they sold it to Humpty Dumpty, which was a chook farm where there was a big Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall and they had this big dinosaur.
“On the dinosaur they had a slide on his tail where kids climbed up the ladder on to his back and they went down the slide.”
He recalled that on the day he bought the dinosaur, “it happened to be on the birthday of my granddaughter”.
“So she thought it was hers,” Mr Wilson said.
“She used to go out and put it to bed every night,” he added with another big laugh.
Mr Wilson reflected on when he and his dad first set up the 20-acre scrapyard.
“We still have the original office from when we moved here in 1956, the year of the big floods in the region,” he said.
“We bought the steam pumping stations off FMIT (First Mildura Irrigation Trust) – and we built the shed out of that.
“I was about 18 then and I’d learnt how to weld at the FMIT workshop at the wharf.
“We’ve travelled away doing jobs over the years, but this has always been our depot.”
Asked how many old cranes he had at the site, he said: “I’ve lost count, but we have one here that was built in the 1870s.
“I got that one from a railway reclamation yard in Melbourne.
“There’s another one out here in working condition. It was built in about 1890. It used to be in the goods yard at Merbein.
“We also have one of the first dried-fruit picking machines. With that one, there’s a bench on it where four blokes sat and they towed it along with the tractor.”
He also has two double-decker buses, with one still in working order.
“One we bought at the Catholic white-elephant sale in Mildura years ago,” Mr Wilson said.
“The bus was up in Deakin Avenue and it had broken down and was abandoned. I actually bought it sight unseen.
“The other one used to be a mobile home and it’s a very early model.
“Most vehicles now have hydraulic or air brakes, but this one has rods, or what they call mechanical brakes.
“When you push on the pedal, they activate these rods to help stop the vehicle.
“It’s a goer this one, but the other one doesn’t work.”
Mr Wilson could tell stories all day about what’s in his scrapyard, which he runs with wife Iris.
It’s clearly a labour of love for him.
“I really do love it. We enjoy living here,” Mr Wilson said.
“Every time we see something in the yard, there’s a great story behind it.
“A lot of what we have here is well before my time, and I never lose sight of the history we have here.”
