Kinglake Old Man's Shack - Kinglake Verge

A common feature of the Victorian countryside during the middle decades of the 20th Century was the presence of single men who lived in hand-made shacks and survived by doing odd jobs along with hunting and fishing where that was possible. The number of men increased dramatically during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and some of these men never returned to a more civilised life when conditions improved. They were also joined by soldiers returning from the Second World War who found life had passed them by or who could no longer fit into ordinary everyday life.
The pictured shack is on the verge of an unmade road out the back of Kinglake. It was common for these men to live on government land such as a road reservation like this, and they were able to stay as long as they did not cause any trouble.

NOTE - shack was destroyed in Black Saturday bushfire: www.flickr.com/photos/23651645@N03/3377869615/in/set-7215...