Unique IDAG-0273DescriptionThe bubonic plague epidemic of 1900, and subsequent years across the decade, caused widespread public panic and precipitated onerous cleansing efforts by inner city municipal councils. Areas were quarantined, cleared of rubbish, disinfected and lime-washed. More drastically, areas were resumed, knocked down and rebuilt.
The council established a Plague Department under Louis Blackwell in February 1900 when the bubonic plague hit Sydney. Normally, George Baker, the Inspector of Nuisances, would have been in charge, but he had refused to be inoculated. Employed were 450 labourers to carry out house-to-house inspections, cleansing and disinfecting drains, sinks, water closets and premises to prevent the plague’s spread.
Citizens were encouraged to clear out their backyards of accumulated rubbish. The City Surveyor reported that garbage thrown out by householders had increased by one-third, adding extra stress on the already stretched services of the cleansing staff. Rats, identified as a host of the disease-spreading flea, were particularly targeted. A “crusade” was waged against the rat; over 9,000 rats were destroyed in one week in March 1900.
Outbreaks of the plague continued in Sydney into the 1920s. Cleansing efforts were photographed as a means of documenting conditions and the impact of cleansing activities.
![Clerk [Plague Department]](/img/placeholder.gif?1707351831 "Clerk [Plague Department]")