Big Things were usually built by entrepreneurs or by the local community, and almost all featured something that the town or district was famous for, usually flora or produce. Steel framing and fibreglass appear to be the most common building materials. Establishment of the Sunshine Plantation It was within this context of pineapples, tourism and Big Things that Taylor Family Investments Pty Ltd purchased a pineapple farm southeast of Woombye in January 1971, from Gordon Ollett. Bill Taylor had worked at the United Nations for 20 years and had been head of the Development Finance Section, and Lyn Taylor was an interior designer in New York City. They returned to Australia in 1970. In 1971 Bill and Lyn Taylor embarked on what was then a new concept in agri-tourism, using Maroochy's agricultural heritage to attract tourists. The pineapple farm became an agri-tourism project showcasing over 40 varieties of fruits, nuts, spices and sugar cane: the Sunshine Plantation. The Maroochy Shire Council and the Queensland Government supported the venture, and on 15 August 1971 the plantation was opened by the State Minister for Labour and Tourism, John Herbert. Mr Herbert claimed that the attraction was unique for the Queensland tourist industry, combining the specific promotion of tourism with the promotion of the area and its tropical production as a whole. A 1980 promotional booklet for the Sunshine Plantation claimed that in 1971 the concept and design was original and unique in the world. At the opening the Maroochy Shire Council chairman, Eddie de Vere, drove a gold spike into the Plantation Train Ride, a one kilometre two-foot gauge track which still has the steepest incline and sharpest bend of any Queensland passenger rail track. A crane placed the leaves on top of the steel-framed fibreglass Big Pineapple that became the symbol of the plantation. Lyn Taylor was responsible for much of the design and layout of the project. The Big Pineapple could be entered, and its interior included a curved staircase, along with an audiovisual story about the pineapple industry and other tropical fruits. Local agricultural producers and co-operatives participated in the development of the displays, most notably the Golden Circle Cannery. A shop and restaurant building was located just north of the Big Pineapple structure, and a cottage was located nearby. The capacity of the facilities was tested from the opening, and modest expansions of the restaurant, market and sugar