Heritage beach shack of the Royal National Park
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- In a remote corner of NSW's Royal National Park, beach huts lie amid the folds and foothills of lush Black Gin Gully, which rises above Little Garie beach. "Some shacks were built by the ocean so they could get the view. Others, like ours, are close to the creek," says Billy Burn, 73, whose father-in-law, a miner from nearby Helensburgh, built a shack here in 1942. "It was great when the kids were little. We would fill two buckets with water and bring them back to wash the nappies."
Inside, the shack is filled with 1940s technology: a bright-blue kerosene fridge, a lime-and-cream enamelled kerosene oven, a blackened metho burner and a row of old kerosene lamps hanging from nails. There's 1950s bric-a-brac, too - a laminex table in sparkling yellow and carpet tiles on the floor - but these days there are solar panels on the roof. "The grandkids just come in and flick on the lights," says Billy, smiling. "They don't remember what it used to be like."
There are 143 beach shacks in this section of the park, about 50km south of Sydney: 20 shacks at Little Garie, 95 at South Era and another 28 at Burning Palms. Most date back to the 1930s; they represent a moment in time, a long-since faded slice of Australian history. In the '30s and '40s, miners from Helensburgh, at the southern edge of the park, came to the coast looking for a weekend escape. Holidaymakers from Sydney trekked south too: surfers, bushwalkers and families looking for a cheap getaway.
Beach shacks: from basic living to holiday paradise
During the Great Depression, families lived there out of desperation, surviving on wild rabbits, fish and home-grown vegetables. At the time, pockets of land were still privately owned in the park. Holidaymakers paid two shillings a week (about $8 today) to erect tents and rough bark huts. Later, they built permanent cabins, usually with a main room and smaller bedroom, hastily constructed with nails and bits of weatherboard and finished off with corrugated iron, planks of driftwood, other jetsam and local stone.
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Great video, I'm glad the shacks will be heritage listed.
I grew up as a kid in shack 37 at Burning Palms in the 60s-70s, its the shack furthest up the hill towards the walking track. I spent all holidays there and every second weekend during warmer months. I remember the sound of the surf waking us up every morning and the birds wearing hob nail boots running across the tin roof.
I was lucky to enjoy the same period in #30 (Herco's) - down across the track from #44 (Wades, no gone)... Cheers!
Spent many weekends and school holidays in a friends shack at Era walking down from The Farm at night to get the most of our weekends. Great spot, great memories
Fantastic slice of history still with us today! I undertsand these homes have been protected with heritage listings, well done! Respecting our past and enjoying our past now and into the future.
Nice vid on the shacks been going down there for thirty years now always wishing one was mine to live in must be the best life couldn't think of much better place to be
Beautifully made short film, telling a simple story with fantastic videography. It beats me why a production like this with high standards gets so few views compared to the multitude of absolute narcissistic self indulgent crap here on UA-cam. Well done, I'll be subscribing to your channel.
Great video! Keep up the good work! How do I get one?
id love to have a shack like those in the keys
I wonder if Ken is still doing it?
Is there any way someone could rent one of the cabins while the owners weren't occupying them?
sure if the owners wanted to rent them out
Beach Life
No you can’t, my family owns one
Please ,do you know anybody who sell Cabin i will pay top money thanks
I want to know how I can go as a volunteer to work ??
You can’t
Nice video but why not say where this is ? You could say 3 hours South of Sydney etc. it’s a video about a place but no mention of where the place is, anyone watching has to leave UA-cam & go looking it up.