Tags
clean up Australia, curated junk, erosion, farm, Fleurieu Coast, photography, Plastic-free July, recycling, regeneration, restoration, reuse, southwestern Fleurieu, textiles, waste
Despite a long silence from us, there’s still lots going on at Yarnauwi, not least our ongoing attempt to clean up historic dumping in our erosion gullies. We feel like we’re closing in on the last 30 metres or so of junk to clear and now we’re so close to finishing it can sometimes be difficult maintaining motivation! While most of the material remaining is steel or demolition rubble, both of which we recycle or repurpose, there are still pockets of wonder in the form of various plastic domestic items. Happily, the plantings established in previously cleared areas are now well-established and working to stablise the exposed gully walls as well as restore them as habitat and an ephemeral waterway. We’ll write with more updates soon, but in the meantime, enjoy these treasures from the deep.
Specimen #51: Plastic clown launcher from a “Dandina Sky Dancer”, released in 1995. This particular clown is from the Italian Masque series of the toy. Intact toys from this series in original packaging are available online for a mere US$75.00. (Thank you to Pascelle for the ID, see comments below)
Specimen #52: Wobbling bear in winter attire.
Specimen #53: Battery operated toy train.
Specimen #54: Lightly soiled Boggle Junior console, dating from around 1988. Some cosmetic wear and tear.
Specimen #55: Duplo block with corn cob decal, from vintage farm set. This item, together with several other Duplo blocks have been studiously scrubbed with bleach and an old toothbrush by our kids and added to their collection.
Specimen #56: Vodafone card wallet. No plans to decompose anytime soon.
Specimen #57: Evenflo “Happy Camper” travel cot bag. The Happy Camper travel cot was subject to a mass recall and ceased production in 1997 following several tragic deaths when the cots collapsed on their occupants.
Specimen #58: Artificial poinsettia flower. The non-artificial variety is a member of the Euphorbia family, indigenous to Mexico and has been associated with Christmas since the 16th Century.
Specimen #59: Christmas bauble and tinsel. Our six-year-old actually gagged when he saw this. A fitting response to waste.
If too much dirt-flecked detritus is never enough for you, make sure you check out our Curated Junk page for more modern archaeology and disposable horror. Likewise, if you have more information about any of these items, let us know and we can add them to the catalogue! Thanks as always to our neighbours Rob and Pamela of Anacotilla Springs for their generous assistance in this project.
Yarnauwi Farm 
Great to hear from you guys. Love the face on the clown.
Thanks so much Anthony, great to hear from you too! We hope you can join us for the annual tree planting fiesta this winter!
Hello,
I’ve just visiting your site for the first time as I’m beginning to put together a plan to hike the Heysen Trail.
You might be interested to know that the clown is a part of the Sky Dancer toy series, popular in the early 90’s. I owned the very same one when I was younger, it provided hours of fun. If you google ‘Dandina Sky Dancer’ you should find images of the original toy, including the beautiful doll that sits in the launcher and flies when the purple handkerchief on the back is pulled.
Thank you for this wonderfully magical walk down memory lane.
Hi Pascelle, thanks for your contribution regarding the Dandina Sky Dancer, who would’ve thought that these are currently selling online for 60 euros! I thought there might be someone out there who knew its origin! All the best with your planning to hike the Heysen!