Minding the Streets

Street Cleaning

Cleansing the streets is an important municipal function. Until well into the twentieth century, efforts were focused upon dealing with the dust nuisance. Unsealed macadam roads may have been cheap to build, but they were dusty. The Council gave great attention to watering, flushing and sweeping the roads.

Garbage disposal is another function for which Council is still responsible, but it was not always a priority. In the nineteenth century garbage was dumped indiscriminately. The bubonic plague in 1900 alerted Council to the health hazards of accumulations of rubbish throughout the city. Garbage was incinerated or tipped at Moore Park and then at Pyrmont, or punted out to sea.

Water Cart, Oxford Street

Dust was an ever present nuisance in Sydney. Here is the Sydney Municipal Council water cart no.2 at work outside Andy Flanagan’s Burdekin Hotel, Oxford Street, c.1910. The cart is making its way slowly up Oxford Street. If you look closely you can see the water coming out of the horizontal pipe low to the ground at the back of the cart.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/2944)

Water Cart, Oxford Street
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Flushing in action

A man with his back to the camera is flushing the gutters. Flushing the gutters was all part of cleansing the city. As well as getting rid of rubbish, it kept the dust down and was thought to reduce the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis. The principal streets were flushed each night before sweeping. It may seem like a waste of water, but the council was conscious not to use precious supplies in times of drought. In 1911 the Council utilised salt water for street flushing. The salt rotted the sweepers boots, and so the council resolved to provide “sea boots for night flushers”.

(image: Sydney Mail, 10 November 1920)

Flushing in action
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Mechanisation

Street-flushing machine, outside the Council’s Strickland flats, Chippendale. The truck was a Daimler, purchased in 1928. In 1931 the Cleansing Branch had seven petrol-drive Machine Flushers, ranging from 1,000 gallons to 1,700 gallons capacity. The City Engineer reported, “The service varies according to weather and traffic conditions. Generally, it may be stated that during typical summer conditions first-class business streets are flushed three or four times daily, while a similar type of residential street has daily service.” (CE Report, 1931)

(image: City of Sydney Archives, SRC photographic files)

Flushing in action
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City cleansing operations

In 1933 the City Engineer produced a series of graphs illustrating the City cleansing operations. Street flushing and sprinkling occurred constantly throughout the day from 8am to 5pm and was repeated at night between 11:30pm and 6am.


(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 42/4 City Engineer’s Annual Report, 1933)

City cleansing operations
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Garbage carts

Rubbish was originally picked up by carters and placed in bins on the back of a truck. In 1901 the City Council modernised their ‘fleet’ adopting covered garbage disposal carts. This style of vehicle was still in service in the late 1920s.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/140)

Garbage carts
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Garbage lorries

In the late 1920s the City Cleansing Department mechanised some of its practices purchasing lorries to replace the traditional horse and carts. Here is a two-tonne lorry emerging from Francis Lane, Darlinghurst, in 1929.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/267)

Mechanisation
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Narrow lanes

The problem with the new lorries was that many of the laneways around Sydney could barely accommodate them. In 1929 the Cleansing Department documented some of the narrow passageways they had to negotiate. It was a tight fit to get the two-ton AEC garbage lorry down Francis Lane in Darlinghurst. Local residents look on, through their gates giving on to the lane, 6 October 1929.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/266)

Narrow lanes
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Pyrmont incinerator

View of the new refuse incinerator Saunders Street, Pyrmont. After years of wrangling, the Pyrmont incinerator was rebuilt in 1937. More than just an incinerator, it was an architectural marvel designed by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin. After being decommissioned in 1970, Council allowed it to deteriorate and, despite the best efforts of heritage groups, this unique structure was demolished in 1992.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/254)

Pyrmont incinerator
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Cleansing crew at work

A Council refuse collection truck and crew at work collecting rubbish from shops in Kellett St., Kings Cross, 29 March 1962.


(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 48/2431)

Cleansing crew at work
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How things have changed

Publicity shot of a garbage collection compactor lorry, with an 'otto' bin and automatic hoist, c.1980s. One of a set of photographs recording the Council's cleansing fleet.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/282)

How things have changed
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