In 1973, after opening a wooden toy factory in Gumeracha, owner Wal Wilkinson chose to incorporate a large roadside attraction to the site in order to attract passing traffic. The first of these was a large wooden giraffe which stood at approximately five metres in height. This was subsequently replaced by a series of rocking horses: a horse giving way to a five-metre model, before the process culminated in the decision to build the Big Rocking Horse. The resulting 18.3 metre tall structure was designed by David McIntosh and John Twopenny, and it was opened in 1981 after eight months of construction and an investment of $100,000.