Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeLifeThe cubby house

The cubby house

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.

•••

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 sunday@yourlifechoices.com.au 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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Related articles:
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

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