{"id":2258,"date":"2023-05-05T00:52:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T00:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/?p=2258"},"modified":"2023-05-05T00:52:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T00:52:50","slug":"dinkum-dunnies-by-the-late-elsie-dewhurst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/2023\/05\/05\/dinkum-dunnies-by-the-late-elsie-dewhurst\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDinkum Dunnies\u201d by the late Elsie Dewhurst"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s some of us calls em \u201cprivies\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though in Potts Point or Vaucluse<\/span><\/p>\n

They refer to them genteelly<\/span><\/p>\n

In hushed accents just as \u201cloos\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They are made of tin and canvas<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheat bags tacked on to logs<\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s one at Coober Pedy<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s quite the prince of bogs<\/span><\/p>\n

It is made of bark and saplings<\/span><\/p>\n

With a polished mulga seat<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s perched right on a mine shaft<\/span><\/p>\n

Going down 300 feet<\/span><\/p>\n

But foundations are essential<\/span><\/p>\n

To ensure your peace of mind<\/span><\/p>\n

And it ain\u2019t inconsequential<\/span><\/p>\n

Logs just can\u2019t be any kind<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just use soft wood bearers<\/span><\/p>\n

But red gum or mountain ash<\/span><\/p>\n

And calculate the long drop<\/span><\/p>\n

To compensate for splash<\/span><\/p>\n

Mick Roberts used pine bearers<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came that fateful day<\/span><\/p>\n

They busted in the middle<\/span><\/p>\n

Mick slid in all the way<\/span><\/p>\n

And site them facing eastward<\/span><\/p>\n

To catch the morning breeze<\/span><\/p>\n

Ah to sit there in the morning<\/span><\/p>\n

While the sun slips up the trees<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course there\u2019s flies and redbacks<\/span><\/p>\n

With brown snakes large and small<\/span><\/p>\n

With a sense of rare adventure<\/span><\/p>\n

When you answer nature\u2019s call<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame their days are numbered<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the septic and the sewer<\/span><\/p>\n

And fair dinkum Aussie dunnies<\/span><\/p>\n

Sad to say are getting fewer<\/span><\/p>\n

Cause I can\u2019t get used to toilets<\/span><\/p>\n

Porcelain and chrome and glass<\/span><\/p>\n

With sheets of shiny plastic<\/span><\/p>\n

Far too chilly on the arse<\/span><\/p>\n

And you can\u2019t read rolls of paper<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the catalogues of yore<\/span><\/p>\n

I change mine every Christmas<\/span><\/p>\n

On the string behind the door<\/span><\/p>\n

In moods of rare reflection<\/span><\/p>\n

In the cool out here with \u201cBlue\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember with affection<\/span><\/p>\n

All the dunnies I once knew<\/span><\/p>\n

For the sight that moves me deeply<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just beside my back veranda<\/span><\/p>\n

Is my dunny nestling sweetly<\/span><\/p>\n

Underneath the Jacaranda.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joan Bray of Kangaroo Valley Historical Society<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of<\/span><\/i> The Shoalhaven and Nowra News<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s some of us calls em \u201cprivies\u201d Though in Potts Point or Vaucluse They refer to them genteelly In hushed accents just as \u201cloos\u201d They are made of tin and canvas Wheat bags tacked on to logs And there\u2019s one at Coober Pedy That\u2019s quite the prince of bogs It is made of bark and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-snippets"],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Kangaroo Valley Voice","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice","push-errors":false,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2260,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions\/2260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kangaroovalley.nsw.au\/valleyvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}