Peter Leith is 90 and has seen a lot of the world and myriad changes – many good, some bad. Here, he reflects on an essential feature in any dinkum Aussie backyard.
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Sixty years ago, it was almost part of the wedding vows that any self-respecting Aussie dad would build his kids a cubby house.
Even before you bought or built your first home you just had to make a cubby for your first-born child as soon as he or she could toddle.
If you could not afford a couple of old packing cases, some old, heavy-duty cardboard cartons were an acceptable starter. Opened up, stapled or stitched together, they provided a den into which your first-born could toddle.
As time went by and more cartons (and children) became available, the cubby house could, and did, expand and become multi-roomed and even developed a gabled roof!
The pinnacle of cubby house possession for our daughters came when I had ascended the corporate ladder to a point where I was able to obtain a used motor car crate! A real door, a gabled roof and multiple windows! The three little girls became the ‘ladies of the manor’.
When we were all transferred interstate, I think the thing that they missed most for a couple of months was their cubby house.
Do you have a story or an observation for Peter? Send it to [email protected] and put ‘Sunday’ in the subject line.
Did your children have a cubby house? Was it elaborate with a gabled roof or did you opt for a more down-to-earth dwelling?
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https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/when-cards-were-king
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/dunny-lane
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/demise-of-the-lovable-larrikin
