SAM ABOUD'S DUNNY
Sam Aboud's dunny is a flushing toilet, complete with cistern and pan (but with no walls to obstruct the view), overlooking an arm of the Naas Creek in the southern ACT.
Where is it? The site is just off the Long Flat fire trail, around 1km north-west of the northern end of Long Flat. Mt Clear overlooks the area. There is an associated small stockyard up the creek line that Sam built. What's its history? I don't know where I picked this up, but I had the fanciful idea that Sam was about in the 1930s, perhaps a Afgan camel herder from central Australia, and that he built the flushing loo to entice his wife to come out and visit his block. Nothing could be further from the truth! Through good fortune, Keith J, a university friend of Sam's who was visiting Canberra, found reference to the site on my blog and contacted me. He was able to provide some actual background and Sam's contact details. I rang Sam in late Oct 13 and got the good oil straight from the horse's mouth (so as to speak). Sam is dinky di. His Grandfather was Lebonese. Sam was at ANU during the late 60s-early 70s (around the same time I was there) and leased the block (and purchased a nearby block over the border in NSW) during that time. Apparently there were some parties out there. He was not married at the time and built the dunny purely as a loo with a view. And what a site to be able to sit and think! He shared a wonderful story. Breaking an axe handle one day and having no tools, he popped the axe head in the fire as he was cooking his evening meal, to burn the top of the handle out. Done, he pulled it out of the fire, but dropped it on the earth floor - right on top of a box of .22 shells. Dinner went flying as Sam hit the deck, with bullets ricocheting around his abode. My visits I've been to the site a few times: 14 Sep 05, 8 May 07, 25 Jul 09, 21 Aug 12, 30 Jul 13 and 15 Oct 13. Due to natural wear and tear, the site is deteriorating a bit:
The last word? And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise
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