The End of the Dunny Man

In Perth during the late 19th and early 20th century ‘nightsoil’ (human waste) was collected from backyard ‘dunnies’ via the narrow laneways built for horse-drawn carts. This waste was often dumped in market gardens, trenches or waterways. From the 1930s, deep main sewerage began to be installed but this took decades to complete. The iron manhole covers found in the back alleyways are testament to this sewerage transition. The various manhole covers are represented in the form of a map showing a city developing around the Swan and Canning rivers. A city that does not pollute these waterways with sewage.