New Zealand has 121 Big Things (and counting), discovered by Maja from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s researcher from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.
They mostly fall into two categories based on their main purpose, Maja says.
“Big Things created for general visitor engagement are much larger free-standing structures. They are located on main roads, in town centres and usually maintained by local councils and community organisations. Meanwhile, Big Things that are owned by individual businesses are used to mostly advertise activities and items for sale.”
To count as Big Things, structures needed to be accessible, highly visible, and three-dimensional (not murals or flat cut-outs), with a tendency to look disproportionate and out-of-place due to their size. They are usually made from readily available materials such as fibreglass, plastic, or concrete.
“They reflect unique regional identities and town branding aspirations that are often aligned with locally significant industries, particularly in places that don’t have prominent tourism economies,” Maja says.
Iconic examples include the Taihape gumboot in homage to the town’s agricultural roots, the giant salmon located in the popular north Canterbury fishing spot of Rakaia and Mabel the ‘Mega Cow’ in dairy country at Morrinsville.
“Big Things have been getting built here for the last 65 years, and yet this is the first research project that engages with them so comprehensively. People simultaneously love and hate them. Towns and community boards actively fundraise to refurbish them, they get vandalised, feature in tourism campaigns, and they are also the sites of political speeches and protest,” Maja says.
“On the surface, they may appear to tell a single story, but these structures are much more complex than people give them credit for. It’s worthwhile asking, how did these things get here? What is their importance for local communities? Who built them? Why, when, and on whose land? And which stories do they tell about this place?”
As summer continues, such structures increasingly come into focus for travellers frequently on their way to somewhere else—like recent additions such as the large Lilac Bunny of Ngongotahā and the Big Skateboard in Mangawhai.
Maja’s research has two stages: creating a previously non-existent archive of all Big Things structures in the country, and then working alongside diverse community members and mana whenua in specific locations to tell more detailed stories about a select number of them.
“Big Things are important to regional economies and local businesses—many of which are currently struggling. At the same time, having spoken to hundreds of people during this research, the public interest in a Big Things guidebook also became apparent. I already had all the location information and photographs from the archival research phase, and I wanted to create a community kaupapa outside my formal research.”
Maja’s main motivation for writing A Tiny Book of 100 Big Things in Aotearoa New Zealand is to support tertiary students in social sciences and humanities disciplines which were excluded from eligibility for Marsden funding at the end of 2024. While the funding cuts mostly impact academics, reduced research funding also has a run-on effect on students as it reduces the amount of research assistant work and scholarships available within those disciplines, she says.
Full profits from each book sold go towards the creation of scholarships. Costs of the book’s production—such as printing—are entirely self-funded, with Maja writing, photographing, designing, and illustrating the book, as well as undertaking the distribution and marketing.
“The book supports local businesses and Independent bookstores that stock it, encourages travellers to stop by small towns they may not otherwise have planned on going to, and it creates a little bit of revenue for students in social sciences and humanities to let them know their studies within these disciplines are critically important, and to encourage them to keep going,” she says.
Each book features a fold-out map of Big Things throughout New Zealand with numbered illustrations matched to specific locations. Its publication coincides with a Big Things photography exhibition curated by Maja at Te Hīkoi Museum in Aparima Riverton, on show until April 2026.
More information about the book can be found at AoteroaBigThings.com.