Why does this Murray Bridge house have more than 20 statues out the front?
Meet the newly arrived couple whose hobby has made their Adelaide Road home into a tourist attraction.
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A house on Adelaide Road, Murray Bridge has become a local tourist attraction in a matter of weeks after about two dozen statues appeared in its front yard earlier this month.
Dave and Ange Cotton took up residence at the prominent property about a month ago, having retired and moved up from Adelaide.
Within days, giant, colourful figures started appearing in the garden: an elephant and a giraffe, a chef, Thomas the Tank Engine, the panda from Kung Fu Panda.
It was a bit early for Halloween decorations, wasn’t it?
No, Mr Cotton said – where other folks might collect little knick-knacks, he liked collecting big ones, and they just had to go somewhere.
The gladiator had been first, 20 years ago, he said.
The fierce figure had originally stood guard in their bedroom.
The potato was formerly a mascot for a festival in Victoria; the panda came from a salvage place at Hahndorf; the dinosaurs were a 60th birthday present from Mrs Cotton.
The elephant nearly hadn’t made the move to Murray Bridge; it had lived in their old backyard, but then they had enclosed their carport, making it much harder to get back out.
In the end, they needed to remove door frames to fit it through.
There were more statues inside the house, the couple said, including Spider-Man, Iron Man and a carousel horse.
What they hadn’t expected was how popular they would become.
The couple have had regular visitors since putting their collection on display, not that they have minded.
“If it puts a smile on people’s faces, we’re happy with that,” Mrs Cotton said.
“You can come and have a look, and you’re welcome to take photos – just don’t park on the main road.”
In a town already famous for its animatronic bunyip, the Cottons seem like they will fit right in.
