Old Homestead

Back in the early Pioneering days of Australia people were poor (yet somehow managed to not be impoverished) and made do with what they had, often building and then adding to their houses in stages. Now everyone "gets in deep" with million dollar loans (even that word has lost significance) and has to "have it all and have it now".

Sometimes I like to immerse myself in that for a little while and reflect upon that to understand it. Which is why I'm drawn to older (often abandoned) buildings.

As I currently live in a rural area, and so there are always old homes left on properties as people either "sold and moved on" or (often the kids) just built another home somewhere else on the property. My eye was caught by this lovely old place on a ride the other day, so I thought I'd share a little of it.

I don't like the stark and contrasty light of mid day so I chose to go out there in the late afternoon with the sun barely over the horizon (and falling fast as it does here). Accordingly I like to adjust the images that the camera gets to fit how I saw it with my own eyes.

I love the obvious stages of a veranda on the front (right side) and then added an annex on the left.

Back then it was most common to have the bathroom / washing room in a different place (so as to keep the floors from getting rot from water inevitably splashed around (having redone a bathroom in a modern house a few years back I think its something we could learn from, as waterproofing is still a big issue ...).

note the construction of the sink and the simple drain (out into the yard). Given how bloody dry it is here most of the time and given how little water people used (probably a tenth of today) for washing it was obviously quite a satisfactory arrangement. Having a concrete floor was clearly a sign they had some money too.

My Mum grew up in such a place (and Dad's wasn't too dissimilar although he was a city boy) and she applied the same principles in the gradual addition to building of our house (where I grew up). Mum was very much of the Stoic School (although having been infected with the mental virus of Christianity at the hands of Nuns at boarding school may not have known it). I believe that mum operated by the view

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.” 

So while she never told it to me, I believe I have understood that an embodied it myself.
Thanks Mum

Lastly, as is pretty obvious to any reader of my blog photography is one of my passions, so too is motorcycling, so I may as well share how I got there to take these photos with you too.

My trusty T-Max (its my second now) and while they're not common in Australia (but are in Europe) they are a great highway cruiser and very handy practical (500cc) bikes. They are a bit sketchy on dirt roads tho ...

:-)