Largest sculpture of a banana

The largest sculpture of a banana is the 13-m-long (46-ft 7-in) timber and ferroconcrete replica that forms the entrance to The Big Banana Fun Park in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. It was conceived by plantation-owner John Landi (USA) as a way of drawing attention to his roadside banana stall, and designed and built by Alan Harvey (Australia). Construction work began in September 1964, and the finished banana was unveiled on 22 December of that year.

The humble banana has inspired a number of giant recreations, such as the 9.1-m-tall (30-ft) Sunny the Giant Banana of Melita in Manitoba, Canada; artist Duncan McKeller's 8.5-m-long (27.8-ft) Vital made from yellow scaffolding tubes in Bristol, UK; and the 5.2-m-tall (17-ft) Superlambanana, a half-lamb half-banana hybrid in Liverpool, UK, designed by Japanese-American artist Taro Chiezo and built by a team of local artists.

Harvey began work on his formidable fruit at Coffs Harbour by slicing the best-looking prize-winning banana he could find into 40 pieces and using the segments as the basis for the design of a timber frame. Reinforced concrete was used to cover the framework, before being painted a vivid yellow. The recumbent banana – 13 m long, 5 m high and 2.4 m wide (46 ft 7 in x 16 ft 5 in x 7 ft 10 in) – functioned as the entrance to the plantation and its growing roster of attractions, with visitors walking through it lengthwise. The plantation has changed hands and expanded over the intervening years, and is now owned by and operated as the Big Banana Fun Park, offering, among other things, multiple water slides, mini golf and laser tag, as well as a banana-themed restaurant and gift shop, of course.