Australia's Big Potato Fate Rests With NSW Court After Redevelopment Refusal

The fate of Australia's infamous Big Potato now rests in the hands of a New South Wales court.

Plans to relocate the 10-metre spud as part of a supermarket redevelopment were refused by Wingecarribee Shire Council's planning panel (WLPP) this week.

The usually brown sculpture has attracted curious looks in the main street of Robertson, in the NSW Southern Highlands, for nearly 50-years, winning the dubious honour of "Australia's Sh*ttest Big Thing".

Locals have developed a love-hate relationship with the structure, but many found a renewed fondness when it was repainted to become a "Pig Potato", celebrating 30 years since the release of the film Babe, which was filmed in the area.

"Ever since it was renovated a year-and-a-half ago to represent Babe, it's kind of given it a revival," Robertson Business Chamber president Jennifer Macquarie said.

"It's created more local pride and attracted more people to come and take selfies, and so people love it even more than they did before."

The super-sized spud sits on land owned by Ken McCourt, beside a small supermarket.

He wants to move it to another location to make way for a larger supermarket with four specialty shops, parking and a loading dock.

A development application (DA) for the $3 million project was lodged with Wingecarribee Shire Council in December 2025.

It did not specify where the Big Potato would be replanted, but promised to improve shopping facilities for residents.

"The site gives the impression of a public park, but it has always been privately owned land, and the [Big] Potato has been there for some time. So the development would extend onto that vacant land," DA author Scott Lee said.

But the council's planning panel argued on Monday the proposal was not suitable for the 3,450-square-metre Hoddle Street site due to traffic, parking, noise, village character and contamination concerns.

Mr Lee said he was not surprised by the panel's refusal and remained confident the outstanding issues could be resolved through the NSW Land and Environment Court.

"Council, for their own reasons, said they wanted the application to be withdrawn rather than sit down and take the time to work through it. But [Mr McCourt] didn't want to, so he took the other option, which was to go to court," he said.

"There's work being done to address all those issues."

Mr Lee said the panel's decision meant the potato was "safe for the time being".

Council park scouted as new home

The DA received 10 written submissions.

Ms Macquarie, who backed the proposal, said the fate of the sculpture was an issue.

"I know there were a few objections to the supermarket simply based on the fact that people didn't want to lose the Big Potato," she said.

"We've been told by a member of the family responsible for building it that it was designed to be moved as it's on skids … but we really need to investigate if that's possible."

Moving a "big thing" is not without precedent.

Ballina's famous Big Prawn survived relocation, and even grew a tail, when it was moved from a service station to the car park of a hardware outlet in 2017.

Ms Macquarie said finding a suitable new home for the Big Potato might require some council cooperation.

"The only place we can think of [moving the Big Potato to] in the middle of town is Pinkwood Park, which is council-owned," she said.

"If it turns out [the Big Potato] can't be relocated, we'll still talk to council about Pinkwood Park and how that can be developed as a visitor icon to Robertson."