April 17, 2009

It must be difficult for little country towns to get by, especially when highways now tend to bypass them. I particularly like the slogans that towns give themselves on their welcome signs in the hope of drawing in some tourist trade. They can be so incredibly random! Some of my favourites are:

• Boorowa – “Superb parrot, superb country”
• Narrandera – “Home of the worlds largest playable guitar“
• Holbrook – “Premier driver reviver town” (is there a competition?) and also “Adopted home of the Australian Submarine Squadron”! In fact Holbrook has a full-on submarine in the middle of the town, looking as though it has surfaced there by mistake. Holbrook is 250km inland.

Seriously, every town has a slogan. There is usually good logic behind them – Holbrook is named after a submarine captain after all, and the Superb Parrot lives around Boorowa – but to the passing traveller they must be very strange. I suppose they invite people to find out more about the town. They amuse me no end! There is also the closely related “big things” phenomenon.

Anyone have any other nice town slogans?