The
Doug Anthony All Stars had fun with the name ‘Uranquinty’ when they came to
Wagga. I checked, ‘Uranquinty’ is indigenous; it means yellow box tree and
plenty of rain. These days Uranquinty’s average rainfall is about the same as
the rest of the Riverina’s but maybe it was remarkable a few thousand years
ago. The yellow box tree is a slow-growing, spreading eucalypt with yellowish
tinged bark that shreds in ribbons. According to Landcare, it thrives in ‘light
to heavy well-drained moist soils but ’resents high water tables’. Again, did it enjoy more of a drink back in
the day?
Then
there is the association with the 2001 musical, ‘Urinetown’ which I haven’t
seen but, as it is described as a witty post-Brechtian satire on disaster
capitalism, it would undoubtedly be just
my cup of diuretic tea.
It
would be crass to dwell on these cross-linguistic homonyms were it not for the
fact that at least some amongst the town’s roughly 900 residents find
lavatories and drainage a source of great civic pride. This is evinced by pages
on their promotional website ‘Uranquinty
the Friendly Village’ and ‘Visiting Uranquinty’ which between them feature five
images related to public toilets and waste disposal: two images of the toilet
block in the rest area, two images of art work on the wall of said toilet block, and
an image of the grey and black water disposal facility. These pictures are
given prominence and, unlike photographs of the cenotaph, roll of honour, RAAF
memorial and statue commemorating immigrant women and children, are displayed
the right way up!
A
good investigative blogger does not rely only on secondary sources and old DAA
jokes, she goes to the source – especially if the source has one of the
region’s best bakeries! So I recently made my fifth visit to Quinty, as the
locals call it. Despite two days without rain, the gutter outside the Quinty
Bakehouse was awash - spooky! Having applied hand sanitiser and availed
ourselves of different entry and exit points, we took our coffee and two of the
tarts spruiked on their ample signage opposite to Wirraway Park. This ‘popular
rest stop and play area right on the Olympic Highway’ (Wagga Wagga Council
website) features all of the above mentioned monuments and 10 life-sized cow
cut-outs made from hand-forged solid flatbar steel by artist Jane Cavanaugh. The
cows are fun, juxtaposed nicely and good for teasing the dog. They also light
up at night.
I’ve
lived in the Riverina for five and a half years now but I still behave like a
tourist reading every plaque, inspecting all public art and commemorative
installations, researching the area’s history and taking lots of photos. So I
checked out the simple cenotaph and granite plaque commemorating locals who
served and fell in World Wars 1 and 2 respectively. For such a small town,
Quinty made a huge contribution to the forces in the latter conflict. In a
chicken and egg conundrum I haven’t been able to determine if that is because
an RAAF training school and fuel depot were located here, or vice versa.
I
was surprised and pleased to see Canny Kinlock‘s sculpture of a woman, with her
two children and suitcase, representing refugee families offered a home in one of Uranquinty’s disused army
and air force camps in the late 40s and early 50s, their men folk often working
as labourers on the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme.
But
all that is on the public record. I sought the public toilets. Our coffees did
their work and it was time to inspect these facilities. Inescapable on approach is the bright blue
plastic lidded ‘Dump-Ezy’ tank. Resembling a children’s paddling pool or sand
pit, though one hopes it is never mistaken for either, it is labelled a ’dump point’ for the ‘disposal of black and
grey water’ from RVs and caravans. Grey nomads, for whom my spouse and I are sometimes mistaken, pass this way often and take the opportunity to download, so to
speak. I know about ‘grey’ water, we use
it on the garden, but ‘black’ water I had to look up. Ah, it is the liquid that
comes from flushing the toilet in mobile homes it ‘contains the pathogens of
faeces and the nutrients of urine … diluted (by) flush water’. Put like that is seems crime to harbour it – or
to waste it!
The
‘dump point’ does tend to dominate the view which is a shame as a framed
photograph of the toilet block on the wall of the toilet block (a bit meta
that) features a caption in texta drawing attention to the fact that ‘the
toilet block is made to blend in with the silos at the back’, an idea
‘suggested by Elaine Mortimer’ and realised ‘by locals’.
Heritage-sympathetic architecture is alive and well in Quinty!
Our historical and aesthetic
education continued even further as we entered the conveniences. Front and
centre is an unattributed mosaic depicting the (European) history of
Quinty including the growing and cartage of crops, the pleasures of being a
smocked figure sitting in the fields (although this could be a trio of
scarecrows), two small planes looking as if they are about to engage in a dog
fight and a glimpse of the formidable silos. Most prominent of course is the
pub! Fair enough, it is one of only half a dozen functioning businesses in the
town, is a nice arts and crafts influenced design and has probably contributed
a fair number of users to these facilities.
Thinking
I was unlikely to ‘squeeze’ any further ‘drops’ of blog material out of this
visit, imagine my delight on opening the cubicle door to yet greater evidence
of Quinty’s joy in all things lavatorial!
