Woodenbong, Australia (TAN): Australia is well known for its giant-sized tourist attractions and sculptor Paul Pearson wants to add to the collection at this New South Wales town situated 140km from Brisbane.
He has created a giant wooden bong for his hometown Woodenbong riling the local residents. Now he wants to make an even bigger one that can perhaps house an information centre or a museum.
Paul Pearson makes bongs, devices used to smoke cannabis, although his creations are ornamental rather than functional.
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“I’ve always had an interest in bong-making and art. I’ve been doing it all of my life,” Pearson was quoted by ABC North Coast as saying.
He had earlier made them out of dolls, plastic lobsters, vases, exhaust pipes and what have you.
But it was only after he moved to Woodenbong, northwest of Lismore and just south of the Queensland border, that he decided to make a giant bong made out of wood.
“As soon as I heard Woodenbong, I envisioned a wooden bong,” he said.
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Pearson has built one bong that stood at 1.5 metres, but he has an even bigger goal that he believes would bring droves of tourists to the rural community.
“Tourism is the only option for the survival of this dying village,” Pearson was quoted as saying by ABC North Coast.
He started a petition to gain support for the idea, which includes a giant wooden bong with a tourist information centre underneath.
However, the concept seems to have riled the local community.
Githabul elder and Woodenbong local Gloria Williams said the town’s name was adapted from the local indigenous word Ngandgung-bunj. Some interpret that as meaning “duck on water”, but Williams said she had been told it meant “place of the platypus”.
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“The name Woodenbong has nothing to do with a bong,” she told ABC North Coast. “We’ve got enough natural beauty here, we’ve got beautiful landscapes and mountains. We don’t need anything else man-made.”
Woodenbong-based Kyogle Shire councillor Lindsay Passfield said a bong was the wrong idea to promote the little town.
“It’s an innovative idea, but I think it’s totally inconsistent with the culture and values of the local community,” Passfield said. “This is a harmonious and very productive little community and we have good family values here and I don’t think this sort of publicity would be useful.”
But Pearson is undeterred by the criticism.
“I don’t think I need to convince people, it’s pretty obvious,” he said. “The comedy factor speaks for itself. It’s an unfulfilled prophecy. It has to be played out.”
