Warning :- Please read this with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
One of the things I like about blogging is the chance to learn about cultures other than my own. So I think it is time for a bit of Aussie cultural history. This might even be a history lesson for any of you young Aussie city girls who may never have seen or used what I'm talking about.
While I was putting this block together (which I might redo as I've just seen two bits the same together), I was reminded of my childhood. I was looking at the potting shed, surrounded now by roses, just like the one I knew. Even the colour of its walls is similar.
Remember what? A potting shed? No. Our old outhouse or dunny as we used to call them. Don't ask, I have no idea how that name came about. Does anyone? You might have spelt it dunnie if you were posh. Most of us up here in Queensland didn't get an indoor toilet until the 1960s. We used to have a little shed in the backyard with a can - no flushing. The nightsoil man would come to change the can. Heaven help you if he arrived while it was in use! Ours had miniature roses growing around it. That's what trigger the walk down memory lane.
Many were converted into potting sheds when indoor loos were built. I remember renting an old house with 2 girlfriends in the early 1980s. The dunny had been retained as a potting shed and the real toilet was in a tucked away, hard to find spot. We, straight faced, sent many a young man 'out the back' to our dunny only to fall about laughing when they returned very confused.
A friend of my father's blew his up with a stick of dynamite. Townsville was close to being a frontier town in the early 60s.
Anyway I hope I have not offended anyone. :-)
As for the quilt, I have decided to try but not get too stressed about my corners matching. And I know this block has turned out a bit too yellow in the corner. So what, I'm enjoying doing it and I'm not entering it in any competitions.
Take care everyone,
Kayly
10 comments:
Hey Kayley! Aaahh ... the ol' thunderbox! My best friend lived on a farm when we were growing up and the only toilet they had was the old dunny ... down 15 steps and about 30m from the house. When I stayed for sleeovers and had to go for a 'wee walk' in the middle of the night, I would wake my friend and make her traipse down the back steps with me, torch in hand. My theory was if any critters were coming to get me, she could fend them off til I at least pulled my knickers up! :0) In hindsight, I'm not sure she, being more than half asleep, would have been much help if something WAS coming to get me! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks for the walk down memory lane ... oh, and your block is lovely too! :0) Bear Hugs! KRIS
I can remember jumping off the roof or slamming the dunny door open just incase the boogey man was hiding behide the door when you needed to go for a no2 at night - for night weewee we used a bucket inside and every morning it was emptied on the lawn beside the dunny...I loved rolling in the lush grass on a hot summer's day...yuk...lol! Oh nearly forgot about the lovely toilet paper...newspaper, do you thing we all had a black bottoms from the print??? Ahh the memories...great block!
Thanks for the giggles Kayley! My Grandmother's house in Central Queensland had an outdoor dunny until the mid 80's. Like Tereasa I made lots of noise to scare off the critters and the boogey man, shame the spiders never took any notice. The occasional snake would find it's way in there too and I remember my Gran taking a rifle out to kill the bugger. Apologies to anyone offended by the word bugger but here in OZ it means scoundrel. I still remember to dreadful smell....yuk!
Ha ha ha...my parents didn't get an indoor loo until the 1980's and nope, we are not in Queensland...they are way down south in what is now an outer suburb of Melbourne!!!!
Well done on getting Block A finished.
Congratulations on finishing 'A'. And I like what you said in the last paragraph. That is the way I feel about my stitching. It wouldn't look too good in a frame but in a quilt, I think it will be fine. Each one we create belongs to us so it is unique.
As for the remembrance about the outdoor toilet, I remember them well. My grandparents and several girlfriends had them. Unfortunately, there was no night soil man here to carry away the waste. It went into a big hole in the ground underneath.
Keep stitching,
Mama Bear
No dunny for me here in Ontario, Canada. We had outhouses with a hole in them and sometimes a toilet seat even and a hole dug into the ground, but as a young girl I always had a flush toilet - spoiled I guess, but I can remember using outhouses elsewhere. Great to hear the Aussie culture. I love your block and I wouldn't change a thing!
Thanks for the history lesson LOL
Fortunately I have never had to live with an outside dunny but my friend had one at her house and I would refuse to go to the toilet after dark and would hold it in until the morning so I didn't have to go out there!!
Love your block - so pretty!
hey I am a young country girl but I remember them..........lol........we never had one at home (to use) but a couple of places I went we had to use them........I also used to go and stay at my Aunts as an adult and she had one and I would wake her up if i needed to go to the loo.......I hate the boogy man.....lol........love your story......our old loo shed is now part of the chook yard and a chook house............lol..........
oh and great to see your block done......congrats.....
How interesting reading about it all.Yes,it makes me think back as well(a long way back,that is!). It`s strange in one way,as living might not be so different after all.I do remember the outhouse as well,my Gran kept chickens as well as tools in it.One day the fox had been,eating them all. I cried for days.
I like you block A,very calm, plesant colours:-) I am stitiching my A right now,just having a meal break while I write.
I love the memory that comes up when I stitch. Sometimes I don`t even have the radio on, I`m just listening to nothing!
Thanks for nice info!
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