Harry and Squatters' Rights

The shack in the photo belonged to an Englishman whose wife and child were killed by a bomb in England. He came out to Australia and worked on the railways before leaving to live the life of a hermit.

I disagree with squatting. It was an ancient law...its reasoning was, if the property is left vacant for long, unsocial elements can start to live in it. In addition, the property fetches no property tax, while the facilities and amenities like sewer connection and water connection continue to the property. These need periodic cleaning and repair, which does not happen. Any damage to such infrastructure can lead to pests and other rodents..not to mention consequent diseases. That was the reasoning. In ancient times, they were valid. Lots of small and big skirmishes and wars were around back then, and generally, people who flee become wary of returning. Womenfolk are usually victimized by the victors. So people used to pack whatever they could and flee leaving their properties behind. Now, there are water boards and municipal corporations so such squatting does not make sense. They can penalize the owners and collect hefty charges. If the squatter has taken care of the property then owners may be called upon to pay some amount to him. Other than that, there is no justification for squatting. Squatters may compensate the owners some, and take it, if owners have bad memories associated with them. Taking the properties free of cost....just because a person couldn't or didn't return in time...is unfair.

@JudyEv Living life of hermit is fine... claiming property is not...

Yes, she is very classy. We seem to have seen her in a lot of films lately.

@JudyEv a cousin of mine mowed a field for like 15 years then took the guy to court and won the land since he cared for it that long. I don’t think that’s fair. My husband says if we pay the taxes here long enough and take care of the land it would legally be ours after a certain amount of time. That’s a rotten way of thinking when it was my grandfathers house given to my mother who has always let my kids and I live here. I can’t imagine taking her to court to own it if she doesn’t want us to have it.

@shaggin Yes, it is disrespect to the owner of the land who paid registration fees, and possibly taxes for a while...government can always show it as receivable...and charge penal interest compounding it so that people take care of their properties and pay taxes.

The plot was only given to the man because he'd been living there for over 12 years.

@JudyEv Aww,sad

He lost his wife and child in the bombing of London - that's the guy who lived in the shack in the photo.

@JudyEv true

It made for a good story. I don't really mind the fabrication as long as they don't stray too far from the original.

@JudyEv He would be fun to spend time with.

He wasn't costing anyone anything. He was off the grid and self-sufficient and had been there a long time so I had some sympathy for him.

It's a problem isn't it? For this man, the fact that he'd lived there for 12 years was the deciding factor in him being allowed to stay.

@JudyEv I prefer to watch reality shows

Movies and books are now often very long.

@allknowing Not for me. I find most of them very 'unreal'.

It wouldn't have been half as watchable without the love interest.

I know...it looks horrible.

@JudyEv - Even considering that it was used more than 70 years ago it was not a comfortable place.

@vandana7 @LadyDuck The shack was used after WWII but hasn't been occupied for a long time now. But it was very rough.

We watched Woman at War at the Film Festival a couple of years ago. I must check if it's on Netflix. It's an Icelandic/Ukrainian film. Some of the films made in other countries are really enjoyable and quite different from the usual run-of-the-mill ones we usually watch. NZ has some great films too.

@JudyEv Some of these smaller and independent films are quite little gems

I do not approach any hermit to tell me about future... I just trust god ...and that trust has paid decent dividends..

I think most hermits here would just be people who want to live on their own and be left alone.

@JudyEv I see. Here in India hermit totally has a different meaning.

@nela13 My Mum often said she'd like to live on an island by herself. I can understand that now.

I think I could be a hermit. People get me down at times.

@JudyEv Some people can make us consider that option.

I dislike it when they fabricate things related to history or religion. Audio visual media leaves indelible impression. Children watch those movies and get lasting impressions. Quite often import hatred. Only one side of the story is narrated, and the protagonist is portrayed as an extremely virtuous person. While making films, if I want to show that some person was bad, I will magnify the bad otherwise, viewers may be able to dismiss it. The character has to fit in their mind as bad. In real life, issues come about slowly. Therefore, the impact is not as severe. To give you an example, what the films do is, add excess salt in the curry so that you know it is salty. For discerning audience, it is not a big deal. For more fragile minds, that works as a catalyst in driving them towards fanaticism or ideological alignment. That can be dangerous at times.

I agree. It does make the film more interesting. I like it when they don't stray too far from the truth.

@vandana7 I agree Vanny that audio-visual media leaves last images. So many people don't bother to check facts.

Interesting that there are 'secret places' almost in the middle of big cities.

I agree with you that in those sorts of cases people should at least be compensated.

I think some of your ancestors were from Ireland, weren't they?

@JudyEv Yes, we are originally from Tipperary Ireland. We immigrated from there in the 1830's.

How interesting is that? Thanks for the link. I wish we'd known about the cave when we visited.

She saw him from the attic window and was curious about him. When she got to know him better, she helped him fight the property developers and eventually they ended up together.

@JudyEv Interesting. Thank you.

I guess many wouldn't watch otherwise.

@JudyEv well, you have a point. it needs some magic, i guess