One Queensland council is hoping the installation of an architecturally designed toilet will help put the small town of Kenilworth on the map.

Key points: Sunshine Coast Council will construct a $600,000 amenities block in a Kenilworth park

Sunshine Coast Council will construct a $600,000 amenities block in a Kenilworth park It is hoped publicity from the architecturally-designed toilet will boost tourist numbers

It is hoped publicity from the architecturally-designed toilet will boost tourist numbers The idea was borrowed from the famous Hundertwasser toilet in New Zealand

The Sunshine Coast Council has been forging ahead with plans to build a bright green and yellow toilet block for the quiet hinterland town.

The council will begin construction in a park prone to flooding about a kilometre outside of Kenilworth.

Greg Rogerson, a councillor for the area, had been pushing for the plans to go ahead for four years after first calling for designs for the local throne.

Cr Rogerson said about 180 people submitted their designs and it was a local architectural illustrator, Michael Lennie, whose design titled Canistrum was selected.

But the plan was nearly dumped as its original price tag of $840,000 was considered too expensive.

The council announced this week construction with the revised $600,000 price tag would begin with the project to be completed by late 2019.

Maleny-based architectural illustrator Michael Lennie took out the designer dunny competition in Kenilworth with his Canistrum entry. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Harriet Tatham )

Iconic buildings a tourist drawcard

Cr Rogerson was flushed with pride it was going ahead.

"It's a great thing for Kenilworth," he said.

"Once we get the amenity block up and running, every caravan and grey nomad book in Australia will be writing about it.

"It will put Kenilworth on the map."

The small Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Kenilworth will soon have a big toilet as its signature tourism attraction. ( Supplied: Greg Rogerson )

Caravanning Queensland chief executive Ron Chapman said iconic buildings were good for attracting tourists.

"It's the sort of thing that will get publicised and it will get people stopping there and taking photos," he said.

"As long as it ties in with getting people to the town itself.

"If the council spend $600,000 on it they need to make sure the town gets the economic benefit."

Taking inspiration from the Kiwis

Mr Chapman said Kenilworth had gained a lot more exposure recently because it became known as the town where you would travel to try a one kilogram donut and then, if you finished it one sitting, you could get your name on the wall of the local bakery.

"The 1kg donut has been a bit of a tourism attraction," he said.

Mr Chapman said the town needed to embrace the idea quickly, with someone "licensing clothing and T-shirts to go with it".

"It needs a good name though — Canistrum isn't quirky enough," he said.

Mr Chapman was not aware of any other toilets in Australia that had successfully put a town on the map.

Cr Rogerson said the idea for a feature toilet block came from a meeting with the Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance about five years ago as they saw a need to put a sculpture in the Kenilworth park.

"The park had a gazebo and barbeques and then someone said 'why don't you think about a toilet'.

"Kenilworth is an art town. We held a community meeting and someone said out of the blue, 'why don't you make the sculpture the amenity'."

Someone from the council's economic branch forwarded Cr Rogerson the story of how a toilet had transformed tourism in a New Zealand town.

The Hundertwasser toilet in the remote town of Kawakawa on New Zealand's North Island attracts around 250,000 tourists each year.

How a toilet changed a town

New Zealand's Far North District Council's mayor, John Carter, said the Hundertwasser toilet had an enormous impact on the tourism of the town, so much so a toilet was now the inspiration for a museum.

"This toilet block is world famous," he said.

"It has been there for a least 20 years and was built by architect [Friedesreich] Hundertwasser after he moved to the area to retire.

"He wanted to help the town and did a number of innovative things, but by far the most innovative was the toilet block.

"We now have the Hundertwasser museum being built as the government has given a grant and we are starting on the building which will be behind the iconic toilets.

"The point is, we are getting huge number of visitors through and there is no question the [toilet block] has had a huge impact on visitor numbers in town and on the town itself."

Mayor Carter was not concerned about the $600,000 price tag for Kenilworth's designer loo, which Cr Rogerson said was more than double the cost of a standard toilet block.

"It may be expensive, but you can bet you will get well paid back for it," he said.

"If it does for that town and district what the Hundertwasser has done for us, it will far outweigh the cost.

Mayor Carter said he was not worried about any competition that the Kenilworth toilet might pose for his town's tourist attraction.

"It's in Australia — people can't hold it in for that long," he said.

Famous Australian dunnies

While the Hundertwasser toilet is one of a kind, there have been other toilets in Australia that have enjoyed a trickle of fame.

Toowoomba has a historically listed men's urinal which turns 100 years old this year.

The Toowoomba Regional Council spent $107,000 in 2013 dismantling and storing the toilet in Russell Street and then in 2015 set about the task of reinstalling it.

But no one can use it as it is no longer connected to the sewerage system.

The New South Wales town of Dunedoo looked to build a giant dunny over a decade ago, however the verdict was to "dunny-don't" when the community voted against it.

A graphic a Big Dunny that was proposed for the NSW town of Dunedoo. ( Spplied: Seeview Productions )

Toilets in Australia's outback regions have also inspired lots of photographs on social media, with even a competition for the best outback dunny.

Lightning Ridge organised the competition for its Easter Festival in 2017.

But an Australian toilet that made fame all around the world in January was a Brisbane loo — and the occupant inside it — that caused a sensation.

Canberra's Helen Richards was bitten on the bottom by a python coiled up inside the toilet bowl of a Brisbane home she was visiting.