The jobs time forgot - in pictures

Rat catchers, nurses, gully flushers, the town clerk, and joiners are just some of the staff to have worked at the City of Sydney since it was established 175 years ago

Along with carters, book binders, ‘block boys’, and law enforcement officers, these staff formed part of an evolving workforce that provided a range of services and amenities to a rapidly developing city and its local communities.

An exhibition at Sydney Town Hall, marking the 175th anniversary of Council, Our City: 175 years in 175 objects, explores the original functions of the City through to revolutionary community services. The exhibition will feature some of the jobs that time forgot, but were pivotal to the operation of Sydney’s first council.

Inspector of Nuisances would investigate ‘bothersome’ complaints from locals, City nurses administered immunisations to children and a ‘Mobile Library Service to the Infirm’ delivered books and periodicals to housebound residents across the city.

The once sought-after jobs have since become extinct or been phased out by technology, shifting consumer demands and changes in society.

Extinct roles

The Inspector of Nuisances was responsible for keeping the city clean, sanitary and safe. The office was first created in 1847 and the Inspector of Nuisances was given responsibility to oversee a range of regulations from markets inspections to kite flying and house-to-house inspections.
 

Gully flushers were employed by the council to cleanse the gully shafts and drains of Sydney’s drainage system. There were 1,802 gully shafts in the city in 1902, of which 1,182 were connected with water. The gullies were flushed with water by boys, and labourers and carters cleansed the gullies, removing dirt, dead animals, and other rubbish which blocked the gullies and drains.

Health

Rats are a pressing issue in major cities and this was especially the case in Sydney during the plague in the early 20th century. Rat catchers were in demand and staff could make a career out of catching rodents. One employee, Mr Allen, who originally started with council as a labourer, moved to the City Health Department as a temporary ratcatcher before moving up the ranks to rat catcher, then senior rat catcher, prior to his retirement in 1944.
 
The City’s Medical Department immunised children against diseases such as whooping cough, diptheria, tetanus and poliomyelitus until council closed its Medical Unit in 1994 and the responsibility for administering vaccines was taken over by the state government.
 

The appointment of a City Health Officer in 1857 complemented the role of Inspector of Nuisances. The remit of the City Health Officer was broadened in 1879 to include reporting on epidemics, unhealthy dwellings, and food hygiene. Diseases recorded in the City’s Register of Infectious Disease from Paddington in 1898–1933 included scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid, and tuberculosis.
 
From the late 1840s, noxious trades in Sydney were regulated. The Sydney Slaughter Houses Act 1849 gave the proprietors of tanneries, fellmongeries, woolscourers, abattoirs, boiling down works, and soap factories, 10 years to move outside the city boundary. The Noxious Trades Act 1902 required each municipality to keep a register of noxious trades. In 1975-1976, there were rag dealers and flock makers, bone boilers, fat extractors and melters, and tanners that operated in Redfern, Waterloo, and Alexandria.

Cleansing

From 1876, the City dumped nightsoil and later garbage out to sea, until there was a public outcry in 1929 when spring tides washed up assorted debris, including rats and butcher's offal, onto city beaches. This method of garbage disposal ceased in 1932.

Carters were the traditional way garbage was collected from dustbins throughout the 19th century. Female carters accounted for one third of all carters involved in cleansing in 1898 and contrary to all other practices received the same rate as male carters. The electric tipping lorry, introduced in 1916, utilised the electrified tram tracks around the city and was still in service in the 1930s.
 
The first refuse destructor was erected in Moore Park and began burning rubbish in 1903. Pyrmont received its first incinerator in 1911, with the modernist Burley Griffin incinerator firing from 1937 until 1971, after which it fell into disrepair and was decommissioned. It was demolished in May 1992 despite lobbying from heritage advocates.

Baths

Prior to European settlement, the western shore of Woolloomooloo Bay was a popular swimming hole for the Gadigal. The fig trees that overhung a low rock platform made it a safe, yet secluded, bathing place. In later years, the bathing spot became favoured by Sydneysiders and became known as the Fig Tree Baths.
 
In 1858, the council enclosed the rock platform and built the Corporation Baths. The creation of public baths for the convenience and health of citizens provided an inexpensive form of recreation and exercise, and facilitated the making of some of Australia's greatest swimming champions.
 
In 1908 the baths were rebuilt and became a world-class swimming venue known as the Domain Baths. It was also the venue for the sporting triumphs of Australian swimming legend Andrew Boy Charlton in the 1920s, and is believed to be the birthplace of the Australian Crawl or freestyle swimming stroke. Now called Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool, it reopened in 2002 after a $10 million upgrade.

Libraries

The first City Librarian, Charles Bertie, introduced Australia’s first children’s library in 1918. Francis Lancelot Sutherland Bell was appointed City Librarian in 1939, and introduced outreach services that delivered books to the elderly and infirm, hospitals, schools and workplaces. Many of his initiatives became benchmarks, copied by municipal libraries in Australia and overseas. Renamed the Housebound Library Service, the service continues today.
 

Our City: 175 years in 175 objects runs at Sydney Town Hall from 27 October to 12 November 2017.
For more details see the City’s What’s On website.