Not really a desirable summer residence
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
Rockingham, Australia
June 16, 2022 8:13am CST
A few years back we went on a wildflower excursion with some friends. One of the places we stopped at was Canna which is pretty much deserted now.
There is an old hall there and, a short distance away, the remains of a tin shack. A plaque outside the shack says ‘Frank Ewin Macklin, An English ex-serviceman who had lost his wife and child in a WWI air strike, worked on local farms and as pumper at the Canna railway dams. He retired to live here alone with his dogs until his death in Mullewa Hospital in 1968, aged 85 years. “Mack” is buried in Morawa Cemetery. R.I.P.’
A notice by the opening to the shed warns people to ‘Enter at Your Own Risk’. In the collage, you can see the remains of a bed and a Metters wood-stove. The area is one of our hottest regions in summer and the shack must have been stifling during summer days.
I hope poor Mack is now in a better place with his wife and child.
16 people like this
16 responses
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
16 Jun 22
Poor dude RIP.
Id take a shack in the Ozarks here though.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
19 Jun 22
@JudyEv Oh yes and even today they live like that Judy in the Appalachians and Ozark Mts
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
20 Jun 22
@RebeccasFarm Some are happy to live that way. And that's fine if they're happy. Good for them.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91116)
• United States
16 Jun 22
It's really sad to think Mack lived in that shack until he was 85 years old. Poor man
2 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (91116)
• United States
17 Jun 22
@JudyEv Maybe that's where the idea of "a tiny home" comes from. Too bad we can't see what I really looked like when he lived there.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Jun 22
@Marilynda1225 I guess it would have been a bit more weatherproof at it's best. I hope so at least.
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
17 Jun 22
It's awful that he had to live there especially for as long as he did.
2 people like this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
16 Jun 22
I appreciate minimalism, but that’s a little too minimal.
2 people like this
@aninditasen (18198)
• Raurkela, India
17 Jun 22
Really he had a lonely and sad end without his wife and child. You are right this tin house will be unbearable in summer.
1 person likes this
@aninditasen (18198)
• Raurkela, India
18 Jun 22
@JudyEv He might have how do we know? We were not present.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (15372)
• Hong Kong
16 Jun 22
Mack had a tough life. He should be in a better place with his wife and child now.
2 people like this
@m_audrey6788 (58468)
• Germany
16 Jun 22
Yes. I know they are in a better place now. It was a hard life for them 
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222417)
• United States
17 Jun 22
Macklin must have been miserable in this little shack. I can't imagine living like that. We are truly blessed.
1 person likes this
