Lameroo Museum: Ron checks out an 'Aussie Dunny' in the Mallee, South East region of South Australia
The Mallee is tough uncompromising country where isolation, hardship and the fickleness of the Mother Nature have combined to create a unique sense of humour. And over time the average Aussie has excelled at one particular brand of comic genius - toilet humour.
Travel to the South Australian mallee town of Lameroo, 200 kilometres east of Adelaide, and you'll find our fascination with the humble dunny is alive and well. In the town museum, amid the vintage tractors and assorted country knick knacks is a fundamental piece of our Australian heritage. Made of galvo and wood, it's a classic 'Aussie Dunny' - but truth be known they come in all shapes and sizes - a bit like us really.
The Australian wag Roy Manning seemed to get it right when he said, 'some are made much stronger, some are bricks and lime, but don't ever linger longer, cos the comfort's not sublime. Visit when the needs arise, don't look and feel a bunny, just follow the buzzing flies to this - the great Australian dunny.'
The search for the Great Australian Dunny certainly kept Valma Ruge busy on her travels across the back of beyond collecting all sorts of model dunnies.
Heather Maynard, Lameroo Museum: "She collected (model) dunnies all of her life in her travels. She was moving into a unit and didn't want to see them go and because we have a reputation of having a very nice dunny at Lameroo she thought we might be interested in putting them in our museum."
They go by many names - "thunderbox", "throne", "the loo", "the longdrop", and "the outhouse". The term "dunny" worked its way into the Aussie vernacular long ago but the experts believe it derived from the much older word - "dunnakin" - meaning "privy". But so often there was nothing private about this outdoor experience. When nature called other guests had a habit of dropping in - like the odd snake or perhaps a redback or two. Here at Lameroo you don't need to spend a penny to see Valma's collection of handcrafted conveniences. The line of loo-related products stretches to dunny key rings, dunny fridge magnets and spoons and toilet inspired tea towels.
Heather Maynard, Lameroo Museum: "If it was like Lameroo, we had no natural building material, no stone to build with so they had to use found materials really. So what were they making dunnies out of here? Well I think it would have been tin packing cases and kerosene tins flattened out. Things like that and mallee timbers."
If the dunny is an expression of Australian resourcefulness, then some doozies must have been built when the mallee bush was being cleared. Nearby Ngarkat Conservation Park gives some idea of what the early cockies were up against when they came out here to start their small mixed farms.
Heather Maynard, Lameroo Museum: "The government was looking for a lot of extra land for all the young men, the sons of farmers in the peninsula and up in the midnorth."
The mallee's story is unique in that the railway line did come before the major influx of farmers even though it required a Royal Commission to approve its construction. Soon the cockies and their families were on their way.
Heather Maynard, Lameroo Museum: "The railway just astounded everybody. They went from one train a day to several trains a day. They just couldn't catch up with backlog of stuff that was sitting in Adelaide waiting to be freighted out.
Today, the Lameroo Museum contains a selection of artifacts from a time when a new community was born. On display are life's essentials and the most basic of conveniences shall we say in the form of the dunny display. The Lameroo Museum is located on the Chandos Terrace and is open everyday except Sunday or by appointment. Just call 8576 3699.
Lameroo Museum
Valma's Dunny Display
Chandos Terrace
Lameroo
Ph (08) 8576 3699
