From Townsville to Cairns , there has been an explosion in advertising signs , unnoticed by the media but for the episode of the proposed large sign near the Good Shepherd retirement village in Townsville which caused a kerfuffle . Huge billboards are being installed all over the country , automated signs are now all the rage at major intersections. There was a time when the sainted Mother Mary McKillop , who got the run around from the grumpy wine swilling Catholic hierarchy in Adelaide and Rome , seemed to dominate the advertising streetscape in Townsville. Not anymore . She may have even inspired the merchants of Mammon to king size billboards , go electronic , digital .
Entire buildings are being turned into huge , brightly painted advertisements, especially in the pharmacy trade , also by vendors and services in other fields. Large signs are visible along the railway line from Townsville to Cairns , one far from Townsville claiming it is Cowboys rugby league territory , fueling the hysteria that if Townsville does not get a super duper stadium , them thar Northerners will purloin the team .
The Herbert Hotel in Townsville , where controversial comedian Louis Beers , who posed as Aboriginal King Billy Cokebottle , banned from appearing at the Crown Casino in Melbourne , is said to have imbibed, opposite Woolworths in the CBD , is a favoured advertising spot , even used by the Townsville Bulletin some time back , along with legal firms and other businesses . As this heavenly positioned Paradise Signs sign over the pub states , big signs mean big business.
Banners are also causing a flap in the advertising world , as the snap below of the venerable Cairns Post newspaper shows .
On Magnetic Island there has been an outbreak of advertising signs - at the terminal shopping centre and those at Nelly Bay . The terminal itself is being offered up for advertising opportunities . Soon there will be more dazzling signs and multi coloured umbrellas than cane toads in Queensland ... must go , tapping at the back door is a clear sign that the Curlews have come back for seconds .
