But forget the original ‘big’ icon, Coffs Harbour’s ‘Big Banana’ and lesser-known favourite, ‘Big Stubby’ made out of 17,000 bottles in Tewantin, Queensland.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Australia’s 12-metre tall ‘Big Barometer’ is the largest one in the world, and has somehow managed to escape being mentioned in kitschy ‘Big Things of Australia’ tourist guides.
A view from the base of the Bert Bolle Barometer (Source: http://www.bertbolle.com)
The Big Barometer’s journey to Australia began ten years ago, when writer Bert Bolle and his artist wife Ethne migrated from the Netherlands to Denmark. (That’s Denmark, the small town at the base of Western Australia more than 13,000 kilometres away, not the nearby European country).
The couple brought with them an unusual piece of luggage: a barometer Bert had designed and built in 1985, that had once stood in the great hall of the Barometer Museum the couple managed back in the Netherlands.
Upon arriving in Australia, the dismantled barometer languished for five years in the Bolles’ attic in Denmark.
It was only in 2004, when the Denmark Council designed a new Visitor Centre and approached Bolle with plans to build a special tower to house the giant barometer that it saw the light of day again.
Bolle donated his barometer to the Shire’s new tower, which later became a free museum on the history of weather instruments.
The barometer’s 9-metre long oak backbone was the first part to be fitted into the tower. Seven months later, in June 2007, the Denmark Visitor Centre was opened to the public with the completely reassembled Bert Bolle Barometer as its star attraction.
The Barometer is fully functioning, with visitors to the Barometer Tower regularly able to use it to take a reading of the surrounding atmospheric pressure.
Every ten minutes, a vacuum pump fills the barometer with 55 litres of water. When the water reaches its highest point, the air pressure above the water lowers quickly. Air bubbles are formed, which cause the water to start ‘cold boiling’ – a scientifically unusual phenomenon in which water boils at only 20 degrees Celsius!
Once all the air has been removed from the pump and the water level settles, visitors can take a proper reading on the register plate on a platform 9.5 metres above the ground. Those who are unable to climb the hundreds of stairs surrounding the barometer can watch all the action happen on a monitor on the ground level.
The Next Big Thing
Australia loves Big Things.
But forget the original ‘big’ icon, Coffs Harbour’s ‘Big Banana’ and lesser-known favourite, ‘Big Stubby’ made out of 17,000 bottles in Tewantin, Queensland.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Australia’s 12-metre tall ‘Big Barometer’ is the largest one in the world, and has somehow managed to escape being mentioned in kitschy ‘Big Things of Australia’ tourist guides.
A view from the base of the Bert Bolle Barometer (Source: http://www.bertbolle.com)
The Big Barometer’s journey to Australia began ten years ago, when writer Bert Bolle and his artist wife Ethne migrated from the Netherlands to Denmark. (That’s Denmark, the small town at the base of Western Australia more than 13,000 kilometres away, not the nearby European country).
The couple brought with them an unusual piece of luggage: a barometer Bert had designed and built in 1985, that had once stood in the great hall of the Barometer Museum the couple managed back in the Netherlands.
Upon arriving in Australia, the dismantled barometer languished for five years in the Bolles’ attic in Denmark.
It was only in 2004, when the Denmark Council designed a new Visitor Centre and approached Bolle with plans to build a special tower to house the giant barometer that it saw the light of day again.
Bolle donated his barometer to the Shire’s new tower, which later became a free museum on the history of weather instruments.
The barometer’s 9-metre long oak backbone was the first part to be fitted into the tower. Seven months later, in June 2007, the Denmark Visitor Centre was opened to the public with the completely reassembled Bert Bolle Barometer as its star attraction.
The Barometer is fully functioning, with visitors to the Barometer Tower regularly able to use it to take a reading of the surrounding atmospheric pressure.
Every ten minutes, a vacuum pump fills the barometer with 55 litres of water. When the water reaches its highest point, the air pressure above the water lowers quickly. Air bubbles are formed, which cause the water to start ‘cold boiling’ – a scientifically unusual phenomenon in which water boils at only 20 degrees Celsius!
Once all the air has been removed from the pump and the water level settles, visitors can take a proper reading on the register plate on a platform 9.5 metres above the ground. Those who are unable to climb the hundreds of stairs surrounding the barometer can watch all the action happen on a monitor on the ground level.
For more information on Denmark and the Bert Bolle Barometer, visit http://www.denmark.com.au/
What’s your favourite Big Thing in Australia? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us your tip @LiveTheDreamMag