In an email to AustLit, Dr Anthony Sprent notes:

'The poem, based on Banjo Patterson's "Man from Snowy River", was originally written by Janeen Samuel and Alan Beswick, both members of the University of Queensland Speleological Society in 1971 to commemorate the ceremonial burning of Cyril Cesspit, an outside dunny on my family's property at Moggill near Brisbane, and the opening of a new septic tank toilet in its place. My wife and I lived there in a little cottage while I was an undergraduate student at the University of Queensland. I built the new toilet when Simon, our son was born with the need for better sanitation. Various people mentioned in the poem were members of UQSS. The term cusec refers to cubic feet per second, a measure of volume, while Hunter Brothers was the company that removed the nightsoil in Brisbane for many years.'