Yours Australia — Issue 97 2017

“This shack was passed over to me from

Joyce and Allan Wade. As a kid my

family had a shack next door, so we’d

always be ducking in to see Joyce and

Allan and as they got older and frailer,

my wife Claudia and I would help

them out, ferrying them to doctors in

Sydney. When they asked me in 2003

• about seven years before they passed
  away – if I could take over their shack,
  I felt humbled. The couple built it from
  stone without any building experience
  and created this amazing place.
  “The environment at Era has
  changed now. When we were kids
  there were cattle and you had to
  learn to navigate your way from
  the shack to the beach without
  being charged by some bull –
  the only escape was climbing
  onto a water tank! I didn’t realise
  what a fantastic childhood I had.
  “Era has a unique social network
  you won’t find anywhere else and
  I think that’s why it’s special. It’s
  not just the heritage of the shacks,
  it’s the heritage of the social
  group, too.”

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Greg(below)was given the rustic

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TEXT: MARKEETA WADDINGTON PICTURES: PHIL PLAT,

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY