IRON COVE:
SEWER
IRON COVE CREEK
STENCH - “BAGGED” - RESPONSIBLE - SWAMP - TERRIBLE - FILTH - DRAINED - MUD - FOUL ODOUR
“At Thursday night's meeting of the Five Dock Council, Alderman Lucas tabled a motion that application be made to the Board of Health for a professional report upon the Iron Cove Creek, stating its probable effect upon the health of the people. He considered some determined and definite action should now be taken. It was also to be hoped that the visit of the medical officer could be arranged for late in the evening, as the stench was, at sundown, so strong, that it could almost be "bagged."
[...] Alderman Baker said that the condition of the creek had already been brought under the notice of the health officer, but nothing had been done.
[...]
The condition of the swamp was now proved to be primarily responsible for an outbreak of typhoid fever there, some 27 cases having occurred, several deaths resulting. Alderman Nichols, who seconded the motion, stated that the stench arising from the swamp was terrible, especially during spring tides. The high tides dammed up all the filth which drained into the swamp from other boroughs, and after the waters had receded this mud was left, producing a most foul odour. This motion was carried unanimously.”
STENCH - “BAGGED” - RESPONSIBLE - SWAMP - TERRIBLE - FILTH - DRAINED - MUD - FOUL ODOUR
“At Thursday night's meeting of the Five Dock Council, Alderman Lucas tabled a motion that application be made to the Board of Health for a professional report upon the Iron Cove Creek, stating its probable effect upon the health of the people. He considered some determined and definite action should now be taken. It was also to be hoped that the visit of the medical officer could be arranged for late in the evening, as the stench was, at sundown, so strong, that it could almost be "bagged."
[...] Alderman Baker said that the condition of the creek had already been brought under the notice of the health officer, but nothing had been done.
[...]
The condition of the swamp was now proved to be primarily responsible for an outbreak of typhoid fever there, some 27 cases having occurred, several deaths resulting. Alderman Nichols, who seconded the motion, stated that the stench arising from the swamp was terrible, especially during spring tides. The high tides dammed up all the filth which drained into the swamp from other boroughs, and after the waters had receded this mud was left, producing a most foul odour. This motion was carried unanimously.”
HAWTHORN CANAL
NUISSANCE - INSANITARY - STORMWATER SEWER - DEEPENED - EXPOSED - FILTHY POOLS - OFFENSIVE DEBRIS - MEANDERS SLOWY
“At last night's meeting of the Leichhardt Borough Council a letter was read from Dr Armstrong enclosing a report on the condition of Long Cove Creek. The report was as follows:
‘On December 20, 1898, I received a communication from the local authority of Leichhardt requesting me to report on the nuisance arising from the insanitary condition of the Long Cove Creek. In compliance with that request I visited the neighbourhood on two occasions and investigated the condition of the creek, which is a tidal arm of the harbour, both at high and low water.
[...]
Long Cove Creek may be divided into two portions - one extending from the Parramatta Road to Marion Street, and the other reaching from the Marion Street bridge to the waters of Long Cove.
Above the Parramatta road an open stormwater sewer has been constructed in the bed of the creek. The lower portion is more generally spoken of as the Long Cove Creek canal. It is of considerable width, and does not apparently give rise to any appreciable nuisance since the reclamation by the Government of the foreshores and embankment of the canal by fascines. The bed of the canal was deepened at the same time, and is now covered with salt water at all states of the tide.
In the portion of the creek situated between the Parramatta Road and Marion Street a different state of matters exists. [...] At every low tide the salt water recedes for its whole length, leaving the bed of the creek exposed, and the bed and sides are very irregular. Considerable quantities of sewage are always flowing into it from the Long Cove Creek stormwater sewer, which receives the surface drainage from the western portions of Petersham and the eastern districts of Ashfield. The waters of the creek are, in consequence, nearly always foul, and at low water the bed consists of a series of filthy pools and collections of offensive debris among which a stream of sewage meanders slowly to the canal.
[...] it is a menace to the health of the surrounding districts, besides being an offensive nuisance. The only measure likely to be effectual in abating the nuisance is the construction of a continuation of the stormwater sewer, which at present stops short at the Parramatta-road, as far as the commencement of the canal at Marion Street.’
The report was referred for consideration to the works committee.”