Drop toilets are back in the news again … for all the wrong reasons!
Just a couple of months ago, a female traveller at the NT’s Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve plunged into a two-metre-deep sewage pit after a rusty drop toilet nightmare gave way beneath her.
Now, a camper at a campground in the US state of California has suffered a similar fate after making the ill-advised decision of trying to retrieve sunglasses dropped in the dunny.
The man reportedly fell into putrid sewage and remained there for 15 minutes until he was rescued. He apparently emerged largely unscathed, but did require ‘a hosing down’ from the fire crews in attendance.
Do not enter! People have got into serious trouble trying to retrieve dropped items. PIC: Cizza
In the NT incident back in April, the woman spent three hours waist deep in human waste before she was rescued. Her family had been unable to summon help because there was no phone signal in the area.
Many grey nomads were shocked by the incident.
“Outback toilets need to be serviced regularly and the floors need to be of concrete, and the walls of corrugated iron, or other washable material,” said one. “They need to be washed out and re-stocked weekly, and they need to look ‘inviting’, well lit, workable and secure, right from when first seen.”
Other recent similar toilet nightmare incidents include:
In 2024, Country Fire Authority crews had to rescue a man who got stuck in a loo near Wodonga in Victoria.
And overseas, a Swedish man got stuck in a toilet for a prolonged period after making the bizarre decision to climb into it in search of a dropped mobile phone.
And in 2023 in the US state of Michigan, a woman had to be pulled out of an outhouse toilet after she fell in while trying to retrieve a dropped Apple watch.
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Usually I only use the toilet to drop a load poop!
If it drops in, leave it there !!!
Devices and sunglasses etc. should be left in a more secure location prior to squatting. In regards to corroded bodywork, why not have them made of Grade 304 stainless steel which should last literally forever.
In all honesty being a country girl we had the old pan outside toilet as younger people before we had the luxury of a flush toilet. If anyone is silly enough to try and retrieve anything out of a long drop they must not be able to think through their actions of danger. Sewerage is a skin eater an acidic substance that has billions of germs from the bodily fluids it contains . All sorts of nasties . And people who put themselves in a remote position of falling in trying to retrieve any kind of item must have rocks in their head. It’s putrid , it’s going to kill you if you are not rescued quickly and just what are these people thinking .
As for safety of the long drop toilets with regard to maintenance. I have in recent years refused to use them because of the poor cleaning , filthy utility area inside the cubicle and the fullness and smell is beyond my coping mechanisms. And remember I grew up with an outside dunny. If Shires put these things in , they need regular attention and safety checks . Replacement of infrastructure as needed or shut it down . … but instead it appears they are a set and forget . So no I don’t use them and others should be wary of them and please don’t get in them . It’s your life you’re playing with , let alone the poo and pee and vomit and god knows what else . Please just no …
People need to think about what they are doing: if an item on their person could be dropped in the dunny, take it off and ‘store’ it safely before sitting down. And check to make sure the seat is sound before using, not afterwards. There are some things that one has to do for oneself, not rely upon others to do for them, and I rather think that using a toilet is one of those things.
If we fined that they are full, we use the one in our caravan.
Even smarter, we ALWAYS use our own toilet.
Not quite a toilet but I did drop the cap of the toilet cassette in to the dump point. Luckily we were near a major country town and was able to at least purchase a new cassette (spare parts were not available). Did I consider trying to retrieve the dropped cap are No
The long drop is an essential convenance these days, don’t abuse or misuse them they are not dump points nor are they garbage disposals.
This might come as a surprise to the average person but hear is a fact that known to expert treasure hunters. During the early gold rush days long drops were everywhere there was a grog shop eatery, bath house and public entertainment facilities the long drops were often relocated as they filled up sometimes only a few feet away as the earth from the new pit was used to top off the full one when the rush was over these places were abandoned and now some 100- 150 years on these old long drops have all composted and returned to earth they are difficult to identify some are literally treasure troves containing rare coins, jewelry, guns, rare bottles, spectacles, false gold teeth, including gold nuggets you name it anything that could be dropped in or fall between the cracks in the rough wooden floors, these old out houses were made to be portable and the remnants rotting into the ground are a hint to the treasure hunter with a good nose
There is in some of these later long drops the danger of not only some nasty infections but the real danger of poisoning or suffocation as Kerosine and or Creosote were poured on to kill the nasties that lived in this environment as well as minimizing the pungent odors emitted, I would be surprised if some more equally deadly chemicals were used these days including syringes.
What would tempt you to try and retrieve your car keys, phone, wallet, or anything you treasure miles from nowhere off the beaten track
One would surely take care when visiting any public toilet but on particular drop toilets, ( thunder boxes )