The city has missed out on winning the Wotif campaign for the Next Big Thing. The Big Melon in Chinchilla Queensland was chosen by Australians as the nation’s favourite ‘Big Thing’ after a two-week long voting process.

Dubbo’s suggestion for the Big Rhino unfortunately didn’t grow any legs, not even making it into the list of finalists.

The Big Melon beat the Big Peanut in Kingaroy, the Big Kilt in Glen Innes and the Big Tulip in Mittagong. It’s more than 3 metres tall.

“We received such an overwhelming response at the final shortlisting stage, that the total number of votes equates to 70 per cent of the population in our four finalist towns. It goes to show the significance of ‘Big Things’ in Australia and how sentimental Aussies are about them,” Wotif managing director Daniel Finch said.