Since 1985, a very big figure made from steel and fibreglass has stood proudly among the Wagin landscape.
Affectionately known as Bart, the giant ram, which stands at nine metres tall, 6m wide and 13m long, and weighing in at four tonne, has helped to put the Wheatbelt town renowned for its Merino sheep and wool industry on the map.
And that fame became even more widespread last year when the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) released its Aussie Big Things special edition coin collection.
The collection, done in collaboration with Australia Post, was created to "celebrate the weird and wonderful Big Things found across Australia" and celebrate the great road trip.
On releasing the $1 coins, the RAM promotional material said visiting Big Things was quite a phenomenon when driving around the country, with more than 200 bigger-than-life structures surprising and delighting people of all ages.
In among the coins depicting 10 specially selected locations, such as The Big Pineapple in Queensland and the Giant Murray Cod in Victoria, was the Giant Ram from Wagin.
Wagin Shire president Phillip Blight said it was a source of great pride for the shire and local community to be asked to be involved.
"We were delighted to have been seen as the preferred big ram for this," Mr Blight said, referring to the New South Wales town of Goulburn also having a ram statue that was built in 1985 - the Big Merino, a 15.2m tall concrete ram nicknamed Rambo.
"There are lots of big things on the east coast, but not so many on the west coast, so we thought it was very astute of the organisers to pick our Giant Ram."
Mr Blight said copyrights to the image of the ram meant that the Shire had to give its approval for Bart to be immortalised as a $1 coin.
"We were approached about 18 months before the release of the set, and put it to the council at the time who were prepared to get onboard and agree," he said.
In recognition of its participation, the Shire was presented with a collectors' standard boxed proof set of the entire Aussie Big Things collection when it was released last September.
Mr Blight said it had been a wonderful promotional opportunity for the town, with the coins sold individually and in sets in Australia Post offices around the country, as well as online through the RAM.
"We hope that this will translate into greater tourism for our region and town throughout the year," he said.
"The other iconic thing Wagin is known for is the Woolorama, and so if this promotion helps to bring more people along to that in March then that will be a great result."
Woolorama was in fact involved with an Australia Post promotion back in 1989, when a special set of four stamps was released in a tribute to Australian sheep breeds and to coincide with the World Sheep and Wool Congress in Tasmania that year.
The stamps were only available at Woolorama at the Historical Village post office, or via mail order, and depicted a Merino, Poll Dorset, Polwarth and Corriedale.
The 2023 Giant Ram coins were in hot demand when first released, with many Wheatbelt post offices quickly selling out of their allocation, including Wagin.
An online search shows that for those keen to secure one there are still some available on the RAM website www.eshop.ramint.gov.au and also the Australia Post website www.auspost.com.au.
