The Oyster’s His World
The Bigs of Australia are well-documented, from merinos (Goulburn) to mosquitoes (Hexham). In fact, if bigs are you’re bag, then check out our Big Link, or look for David Clark’s big book, labelled Big Things, out through Penguin.
But the Oyster of Taree, according to our research, is the only Big to be converted into a caryard. ‘At first we were going to knock it down,’ admits general manager, Bob Parsons, speaking of the colossal mollusc that dominates his property, ‘but then we realized it was a good identifier.’
Mid Coast Ford inherited the icon in 2001. The grey shell sits on the roof like an eye, contemplating Falcons and Fiestas. Before the auto crowd moved in, the oyster was a venue for local painters to hang their work, and next TAFE students came along to practise pie-baking inside the shell.
‘Then there was Vienna World next-door,’ Mike reminds me – a land of steins and oom-pah-pah that vanished as the oyster almost did.
Mike in fact is originally from Coffs Harbour, home of this country’s maiden Big Thing…. . ‘I’ve moved up the food chain,’ he grins. ‘From banana to oyster.’ [Manning River Drive, roughly opposite the new Visitors’ Centre.]