I suppose coming to these old sheds can be considered a practical history lesson for the kids…and us adults.  My first thoughts when seeing the shearing quarters were “why don’t they upgrade it”, but in talking to the farmer Chris, we gained a bit of an insight into the history of the shearing quarters and I learnt to appreciate how authentic it was.

Chris’s grandparents bought Lynray Station back in 1951.  The laundry and shower block was the original homestead.  His grandparents built the shearing quarters around that and later built their homestead a bit further down the track..  As a child Chris’s house was the shearing quarters. When the shearers came to shear they would have to pack up their furniture and belongings, store it in the shed and go and live in the homestead with their grandparents and then move back after the shearing was done. The kitchen as it is now is the very kitchen of his childhood. His grandmother mixed and laid the concrete out the front of the quarters by hand.  Both his grandparents lived well into their 90’s.

The kitchen up the end with the chimney…bedrooms down the side

The showers and laundry

When Chris saw all our kids, he bought over the slide and see-saw that his grandfather made way back in the days.  They might look old but they were still very solid.  Things were built to last back in those days!

Here’s the good old dunny.  This is a flush toilet…but wait until you see the next one?

The real deal…the long drop

Yes they still have them.  The kids had 2 experiments with this toilet.

1. Drop a stone down and wait for the plonk to see how far down it went….but it didn’t actually make a sound???
2. Get a torch and shine it down. Why kids like to be grossed out I don’t know???  And they WERE grossed out.

None of the kids were game enough to try this toilet.

To get to the toilet you have to traverse this narrow path of thistles and thorns…very inviting…hahaha