I remember family trips to The Big Rocking Horse in Gumeracha, both as a child and as the parent taking children.
The “world’s biggest rocking horse”, nicknamed Wal, was conceived by wooden toymaker Wal Wilkinson, who had established a dedicated toy manufacturing workshop on Torrens Valley Road in Gumeracha in 1973.
Wal faced a dilemma. Gumeracha is located in the scenic northern Adelaide Hills but he needed a compelling reason for motorists to pull over and visit his showroom rather than simply driving past.
So he began experimenting with roadside novelties to test whether giant wooden scale models would capture public attention, these included a five-metre-high wooden giraffe, which had some success, followed by marshalling the signature item of his toy-making craft: the nursery rocking horse. These initial ones were working scale models measuring three metres and then five metres high.
They were popular, as was “roadside monumentalism”. Australia had the big pineapple, the big lobster, and the big orange, so Wal commissioned designer David McIntosh and architect John Twopenny (who was working on the Big Orange for Berri).
Adelaide-based firm Halwell Engineering was contracted to handle the structural fabrication so that the 25-tonne tubular and sheet-steel superstructure was capable of handling live loads of climbing visitors as well as the severe wind shear that rips through the Torrens Valley. Eight months and roughly $100,000 later, sitting on 80 metric tonnes of poured concrete ballast footings, “Wal” was open to the public in 1981.
Over the years, it has survived close shaves with bushfires, notably the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, the 2015 Sampson Flat bushfire, and the 2019 Cuddlee Creek bushfire.
The pricing for climbing the big rocking horse has been maintained very modestly and while most people “gallop” up the steps, it can be challenging for some.
This song captures the spirit of that story but also tips its hat towards Gumeracha’s past when it was a staging post for mail, freight, and passengers. Cobb & Co and other operators used it to hold horses for swapping over and watering because they’d either just traversed the steep and windy ascent from the Adelaide Plains, or they were about to encounter it. It was only when the railway arrived and freight was moved to trains, that the ecosystem of cartwrights and blacksmiths faded, leaving the town to be a hub for local farmers and, in modern times, tourists.
The photo used to illustrate the song was taken by my sister, Karyn. Thank you.
The Big Rocking Horse Lyrics
[Intro]
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
Release the joy
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
Into another wooden toy
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
To reinforce
Turn the wood
Turn the wood
Into an heirloom rocking horse
[Verse 1]
Find that cartwright, and fix that wheel
It’s the only way we’re gonna make it, down the hill
Swap the horses, in Albert Street
And they’ll need some water in this January heat
The mighty horse, put Gumeracha on the map
Until they introduced the railway track
But the horses never left us, they took on a different role
And their guardian was a toymaker, whose name was Wal
[Bridge 1]
Come and buy my wooden toys
Come and bring your girls and boys
Come and have a lovely day
With souvenirs to take away
Come and buy my wooden toys
Come and bring your girls and boys
Come and have a lovely day
With souvenirs to take away
Come and buy my wooden toys
Come and bring your girls and boys
Come and have a lovely day
With souvenirs to take away
Come and buy my wooden toys
Come and bring your girls and boys
Come and have a lovely day
With souvenirs to take away
[Verse 2]
But not enough people stopped
On Torrens Valley Road
So, just like a spinning top
He knew he’d have to steal the show
So he found some engineers
To build a monument
That’s lasted through the years
On a bedrock of cement
And though the fires came
And frightened all around
His giant rocking horse
Has proudly stood its ground
[Chorus]
You don’t need to rock, to be a rocking horse
You don’t need to shout to be heard
Take one step at a time, and keep climbing
And you’ll make it to the top of the world
[Verse 3]
This town has seen some changes
With plenty more to come
So I round up my kids
To have an afternoon of fun
We could go to Melba’s Chocolates
Who doesn’t like a treat?
Or head up to Birdwood
And let them wander through the fleet
But there’s something in the woodwork
It says somebody cares
It’s why I brought you here
So we can gallop up the stairs
[Chorus]
You don’t need to rock, to be a rocking horse
You don’t need to shout to be heard
Take one step at a time, and keep climbing
And you’ll make it to the top of the world
[Bridge 2]
When the power goes out
And when the sky turns grey
Listen to your wooden blocks
In the silence, hear them say
[Outro]
Time to play
Time to play
Time to play
Release the joy
Time to play
Time to play
With a simple wooden toy
Time to play
Time to play
Time to play
To reinforce
Time to play
Time to play
At the world’s biggest rocking horse
[Chorus]
You don’t need to rock, to be a rocking horse
You don’t need to shout to be heard
Take one step at a time, and keep climbing
And you’ll make it to the top of the world
[Outro]
Time to play
Time to play
Time to play
Release the joy
Time to play
Time to play
With a simple wooden toy
Time to play
Time to play
Time to play
To reinforce
Time to play
Time to play
At the world’s biggest rocking horse
[Chorus]
You don’t need to rock, to be a rocking horse
You don’t need to shout to be heard
Take one step at a time, and keep climbing
And you’ll make it to the top of the world
Listen to The Big Rocking Horse
The Big Rocking Horse Scratchings
These are the notes that I scratched as I wrote this song. I made some tweaks while listening in the studio, but you will see that about 98% of the words survived.
