by Wayne Carveth, Bulletin 06/2026

When and where was this photo taken and what’s going on?

Please send your suggestions to history@glebesociety.org.au with ‘Mystery Photo’ in the subject line.

How did you go with last month’s mystery photo?

Update (September 2026)

Rodney Hammett correctly identified the photograph as showing work being undertaken in 2022 at the heritage-listed sewer vent stack in York Street in Glebe.  Dale Dengate’s memory was of earlier works done around 1985 when the aqueducts were temporarily bypassed while being renovated with a plastic liner.

In 1895 a sewer main was built from Leichhardt alongside Piper Street, going across Whites Creek and Johnstons Creek by aqueduct. A tunnel then entered the cliff behind today’s PCYC. A vent stack was built in 1908 in York Street to provide ventilation. From there, the tunnel followed (and still follows) Derwent Street, Broadway and Railway Square to join the Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer at Whitlam Square. The sewer flows by gravity all the way from Leichhardt to North Bondi. The York Street vent provided natural ventilation for more than a hundred years until forced ventilation via a large fan was introduced in 2022. Hence the works depicted in the photo.

Route of the 1895 sewer main through Glebe and the location of the sewer vent stack in York Street (Source: Rodney Hammett).