Adelaide city slums suffer high mortality in 1870s before deep drainage work starts

The poorer areas of Adelaide city suffered from a high mortality rate in the 19th Century.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

In the 1870s, mortality rates in the slum areas of Adelaide city were declared higher than in central London.

A dramatic increase in city population in the 1860s added to the serious problems associated with the lack of deep drainage or proper removal of rubbish or sewage.
Primitive disposal of human waste into the parklands until the 1880s, pungent fumes from the cemetery, and toxic fumes from factories, all contributed to the poor environment of the city.

Deep drainage began in a very small way in 1867 with “upwards of 2,300 yards” of pipes laid in King William, Rundle, Hindley streets and North and East terraces.

By 1868, nothing had happened to extend this first drainage system due to the Adelaide city corporation’s crippled finances in the early 1860s depression.

An Act for comprehensive deep drainage of the city was passed in 1878. A survey from late 1878 by city engineer Charles Smith prepared the way for deep drainage pipes. The work was completed in early 1885, making cesspits and the removal of night soil no longer necessary.
Adelaide became the first Australian capital to make a start on having a deep drainage sewage in the 1870s.

But the drainage and the passing of the Public Health Act in 1873 was far from an instant fix to the problems that had prompted a “sanitary reform” public meeting in 1849, the first show of concern about health conditions in Adelaide. Many large families were living in two small rooms shared by sick and healthy – plus possibly pigs, goats and poultry– with many babies born “but few remain to enjoy life under such circumstances – their little lights are soon put out like candles down foul wells – they soon find themselves in West Terrace Cemetery”.