Australian Health Society Pamphlet, illustration C.1880
In the 1880s, Melbourne acquired a nickname — ‘Smellbourne’. At that time, Melbourne had as much stink as style. ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ it may have been but it was also ‘The Stench of the South’. Scraps, slops, vomit, urine and faeces and waste matter from factories flowed through the streets in open gutters.
Diseases such as diphtheria, yellow jaundice and typhoid flourished. Believing that bad air from low-lying areas would make them ill, wealthier residents built in more elevated areas and chemists kept up their stocks of smelling salts which became very popular with Melburnians who could afford them. Following a public outcry and a number of government inquiries, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was formed in 1891 to build an underground sewerage system. This is a Bad Smell illustration from an Australian Health Society pamphlet of August 1880