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The Great Australian Dream A quarter acre house block, the great Australian dream, just the bare essentials, working as a team. Happy with their placement, content with what they had, timber framed with masonite, all asbestos clad. Mowers on the uptake, every Sunday morn’, a muster of the neighbourhood, cricket on the lawn. Family garden out the back, veggies by the score, everyone in unison, couldn’t want for more. Proud of their surroundings, parents took the lead, mobs of rows to cultivate, water and to weed. A way of life for many, the outdoors their domain, looking back they had it all, but nothing stays the same. Housing’s unattainable, building blocks are few, tear’m down and start again, cut-’em into two. A corner block in Northfield, twenty twenty four, a million dollar minimum, to get you through the door. Thirty weeks to build’em, a day to knock’em down, a bobcat and a tipper and it’s back to level ground. Quickly subdivided, two to four from one, stack’em in to populate, that’s the way it’s done. Dunny on location, delivered as directed, sanitation to comply, human waste collected. Skip bin applications, replacement on request, bits and bobs from every job, compliance at its best. Rubber stamped approvals, marking paint in hand, excavators hard at work, plumbing to a plan. Lines to sight for guidance, footings deep and clean, PVC to cut and glue, backfilled by machine. Rio fabrication, cages to install, pumping systematic, trucks arrive on call. Concrete up and over, all poured into place, house slabs on emergence, utilising space. Pinus Radiata, timber use in play, chippies in their element, framing underway. Brickies on arrival, pallets onto site, bricks and mud are in demand, tapped to line and height. Trusses made to measure, a crane brought into play, lifted up for placement, roofing underway. Gutter installation, plumbers on return, roofing sheets to score and screw, a lot to watch and learn. Second fixers into gear, gyprock sheets throughout, aves and cornice to install, tiles to lay and grout. Fences on erection, paint to roll and spray, sign off for inspection, purchase underway. The quarter acre is no more, there’s no place left for plants, barely room to swing a cat, we’re head to toe like ants. A place of space and wonder, our way of life collapsed, what we had is gone for good, we’re living now like rats. In the past they did it all, legends of their time, tradies now elusive, construction’s on the line. Red tape is horrendous, our freedom’s on the brink, costs are hard to justify, it’s time to stop and think. Glen Hughes © 2/8/24