The ‘big penis’ has been torn down: how Newcastle changed in 25 years since the Knights’ last NRL title

Newcastle’s Queens Wharf Tower, aka ‘the big penis’, features in Daniel Arvidson’s song about his home town, which he performed for 80,000 people at the city’s foreshore in October 2001. Photograph: CUHRIG/Getty Images

More than 80,000 people saw the musician Daniel Arvidson sing about Newcastle’s “big penis” at the city’s foreshore in October 2001.

Arvidson’s song about our shared home town – and its dubious local landmarks – found its way on to local radio that year, as the Newcastle Knights were making a run towards a second NRL premiership.