Albm&ctd wrote:
>
>All these johns and with nowhere to go.
>
>Thunderbox :-)
Nope. The thunderbox was a particular design (never found Indoors
AFAIK) that had a fully enclosed flat wooden top with either a can or
a pit underneath (the latter was known colloquially as the long drop).
Urban versions were usually built against the back fence, with a rear
trapdoor for the night cart operator to change cans. (The Outcasts of
Foolgarah ought be compulsory reading for all Australians.)
My grandparents' farm (where I spent a lot of time as a kid) had two
of 'em (both long drops). The one close to house was a professionally
built job, for the exclusive use of wimmin and kids, and always had
genuine store bought bog roll on hand. The men's was a two hundred
metre walk (or sprint), built out of bush timber, provided with
squares of last week's newspaper on a skewer made from fencing wire
(similar to the one in the farm office used to file the bills). Both
had the mandatory container of ashes (from the wood stove in the
kitchen); a bucket in the ladies, an old kero drum in the mens.
FWIW they never had mains power or reticulated water and the old
farmhouse, now abandoned, still doesn't. Last time I saw it the men's
was still standing (after a fa****on).
Public places usually had multi holers. Various sized holes, for
various size arses and multiple users, cut in a single plank with a
very small one on the end (for very small kids). Best example I ever
saw was at Blinman (Flinders Ranges) around the early seventies (not
long before the tourists found the place). It was a six holer IIRC.
Alas, Australian architecture isn't what it used to be.
--
John H
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