A story by Tim Ross inspired by the Frank and Eunice Corley House photographs collection currently on show in Home: a suburban obsession exhibition. Listen to his podcast.
The lawn was patchy and broken like a dog with mange, always raw, never to be cured. Behind the Val and the Holden, the fridge in the garage full of XXXX made more noise than it should.
The faulty thermostat would never be looked at. One day it would stop working and the fridge would be slid into the back of the wagon on top of a travel rug, the tailgate kept shut with an occy strap.
From the front seat a pair of feet in thongs would push it out the back at the tip. The dust would fill the car, an unwelcome fly would visit a mouth and the job would be done.
The AM radio upstairs on the kitchen window played hit after hit.
The Carpenters, The Eagles and occasionally something home grown like A Little Ray of Sunshine by Axiom.
The electric frying pan sat in the sink, full of water and lashings of Palmolive. A ring of orange fat clung to the edges, the final chapter of a bolognaise well eaten.
A shirtless eight-year-old in tracker board shorts tried to get comfortable on the yellow vinyl beanbag.
His Mum absentmindedly twirled the phone cord around her finger while she gossiped and smoked back-to-back cigarettes.
A fifteen-year-old slipped out the backdoor to meet someone she shouldn’t.
Home: a suburban obsession exhibition ends 14 July 2019. Discover more about the exhibition at explorer.corley.slq.qld.gov.au. Find your home. Search the Corley Explorer.
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