One of the North-West Coast’s most photographed tourism icons, the Big Penguin, has been provisionally placed on the Tasmanian Heritage List.
The three-metre statue on the foreshore in Main Street Penguin, ironically depicting a little penguin, is made of ferro-cement and covered with painted fibreglass and was made by the Goliath Cement Company in 1975 to celebrate the centenary of the naming of Penguin as a town.
Penguin-themed rubbish tins were added to the townscape in 1980, five years after the Big Penguin was erected, which were replaced last year by the Central Coast Council with more modern and compliant penguin-themed bins.
The Big Penguin is periodically dressed in themes clothing for events including Christmas, Easter, and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.
Locals first applied for heritage listing in March last year, with the iconic penguin due to turn 50 in October this year.
Submissions or objections to the listing close with the Tasmanian Heritage Council on March 17th.
