Why you should photograph your favourite public toilet

It’s called the Great Dunny Hunt and this year all Australians are being asked to find the nation’s top public toilets, photograph them and post them online.  

To get to the bottom of why such a thing would be encouraged, let’s start by asking, Did you know there’s such a thing as a National Public Toilet Map? Well, there is and here’s the link. 

The map needs improving and the Continence Foundation of Australia says doing so supports the thousands of people living with incontinence. 

The Foundation’s Nationally Representative Consumer Survey 2021 found that 38% of people living with a disability had experienced, or were currently experiencing, incontinence. 

Only 3,000 of the 21,000 public toilets listed on the map have photos, so there are still many locations that need illustrating to help users more easily locate them. As they say, a good photo showing accessibility really is worth a thousand words. 

The aim is to find the best Aussie public toilets, with honourable mentions for the most colourful dunny and the dunny in the most unusual location. 

The competition runs until 19 June 2023 and everyone who enters a photo goes in the draw to win one of three $500 EFTPOS gift vouchers. Winners will be notified via email in late June.

Judges say they want shots that clearly show the outside of the public toilet and how accessible the entrance is. Desirable features include easy access to the front door, clear stairway access, and open doorway or automatic door. 

The judges are cautioning, “Please do not include any photos with people in them.” 

As well as interior photographs displaying the range of available features and facilities such as: 

• Adult change facilities.

• Baby change.
  

• Dump point (including wash out water and afterhours access).

• Ambulant facilities.
  

• Drinking water.

• Sharps disposal.

• Showers.
  

• Sanitary, incontinence product disposal.

• Right and/or left transfer – important for those with one side of the body less able.

• Master Locksmiths Access Key (MLAK).

• Male, Female and/or Unisex facilities.

• Go to the National Public Toilet Map (NPTM) website or app. 

• Login (or register) to update.  

• Find your local toilet on the map.

• View its details and click the “update this facility” link to upload a photo.
  

• Tick the box to go into the draw to win one of three $500 EFTPOS cards. 

You can update and enter as many times as you like. 

An expert panel of judges includes the Continence Foundation of Australia’s CEO Rowan Cockerell, international toilet enthusiast/researcher and Churchill Fellow Katherine Webber and the “Great Dunny Hunter”, Sean Burford.