Cook Shire Council staff Linda McNab, Stephanie Hook, Glen McGrath and Heather Kelly get acquainted with the larger-than-life moustache installed at the water park on Cooktown’s Webber Esplanade to raise awareness for Movember. Photo: Supplied.
There was no mistaking it was Movember last month as Cooktown temporarily found itself on the list of Australian towns boasting big things.
To help spread awareness for men’s health issues as part of the annual month-long event, Cook Shire Council’s communications and engagement, and events teams got creative and constructed an oversized moustache to install at the town’s water park on Webber Esplanade.
While the council undertakes regular fundraising and awareness initiatives for important causes and charities, staff decided to think big with their effort to mark Movember, which Cape York Weekly understands (well, guesses) ensured south-eastern Cape York was momentarily home to the country’s largest, most outlandish nod to a hairy upper lip.
The “spontaneous brainchild” made Movember in Cooktown memorable by not only blending creativity with advocacy, but also providing a fun photo opportunity that was able to be shared on social media to kickstart conversations about men’s health issues, including mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
The Big Mo will be taken down and replaced with a Christmas banner ahead of Sunset with Santa on 6 December, but this publication has heard a whisper it will return in November 2025 bigger, better and hairier than ever.
