The Things You See

with (TRUTHFUL) PHIL BIANCHI READYMIX MADE ITS MARK

Around Australia there are many big things of novelty architecture including the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour, Big Cane Toad in Queensland (not talking about Clive), Big Mushroom in the ACT and let’s not forget the Biggest Liars in Canberra. In WA one would immediately think Big Iron Ore. Not so, the biggest of the big should go to the long forgotten Readymix Diamond on the Eyre Highway near Caiguna. What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of it? Where have you been? In your defence many of you probably weren’t born then. So what’s it all about? Way back in the 1960s the WA government let a contract for the sealing of a 500km section of the Eyre Highway from Balladonia to Eucla. The Readymix Group were granted the contract. At the halfway mark of the project, which was near Caiguna, the company had one of the quarry surveyors mark out the company logo on the ground and then Allan Hoare, the grader driver, graded it. It took him a weekend to do the job. The diamond shaped sign became the world’s largest sign measuring 3.2km x 1.6km with the word Readymix within it. Each letter was 240 metres (790ft) high by 180 metres (590ft) wide, with a line thickness of 12 metres (40ft). You have to admit these are some staggeringly impressive statistics. The Readymix logo is a geoglyph. What’s a geoglyph you ask? It’s a flash name for a large design or motif produced on the ground. Technically the Readymix logo is a negative geoglyph because it’s etched into the ground. Why did the company carve out the logo? Reading between the lines it seems the company wanted to publicise the project and itself, but not wishing to offend or get into strife, made mutterings that Truthful Phil would be proud of, saying the long, straight stretches of the logo offered emergency runways for aircraft going to and from WA. At the time of construction, it was the largest advertising sign in the world and it appeared in the Guinness Book of Records between 1972 and 1991, as the world's largest advertising sign and the world's largest letters. In the 1970s domestic passenger aircraft would circle the sign and tip the plane so travellers could see it. A number of people have told me they recall impressive views with their aeroplane doing circles over the site when flying to and from the east. Okay, enough of the dry technical stuff, where is the logo? The turn off the highway

Top: Readymix Aerial Landmark. Bottom: Readymix logo on Google Earth.

to the logo is 16km west of Caiguna and to the north. It’s located on pastoral station; at the time of writing the pastoral lease was managed by Rawlinna Station. Permission is required to enter the station and there are a number of gates to open and close. Leave all gates as you find them. The GPS coordinates for the sign are Lat. 32 13.0543 S and Long. 125 21.5365 E. Do the right thing and ask for permission before entering the station. Don’t be the one who enters without permission and buggers up future access for everyone else. Rawlinna Station can be contacted on (08) 9022 6428 or (08) 9022 6406. Intrepid 4W driver, desert explorer and good mate of mine, Alan McCall, visited the logo in early 2021. He had the good fortune to have his drone with him and was able to take some terrific video. Only with the drone can you appreciate the size of the logo and the vastness of the littlevegetated Nullarbor Plain. His drone however did have some difficulty; the local wedgetail eagle thought it was another eagle invading his patch and wasn’t taking kindly to it. Fortunately for Alan he was viewing the image being recorded and spotted the eagle coming in at attack speed ready to strafe his drone. Not wishing to injure the eagle, lose his drone and the footage, he landed the drone and left the eagle to enjoy the serenity of his abode. How does the Readymix logo compare with the Marree Man geoglyph (Aboriginal man hunting with a boomerang or stick) created in 1998 in SA? Readymix is bigger, the Marree Man is 2.7km tall. The Readymix logo, looking somewhat like the mysterious Nazca Lines in Peru, is clearly visible on Google Earth. While Readymix may have disappeared as a company name, having been taken over by other companies, out on the Nullarbor Plain the name Readymix lives on.

Wedgetail Eagle taking a dim view of the drone. Photo Alan McCall

Readymix Aerial Landmark western end. Note vehicle in corner.