Dictionary of Sydney
  1. The Dictionary of Sydney
  2. Browse Entities
  3. Event
  5. Royal Commission into Noxious and Offensive Tra...

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Royal Commission into Noxious and Offensive Trades 1882

Royal Commission

An inquiry, set up to defer parliamentary discussion of curbs on polluting industries, which ended up agreeing that public health was endangered by the 'noxious trades'.

Milestone
Date of event
1882 - 1883
Name
Alternate
Royal Commission to Inquire into the Nature and Operations of, and to Classify Noxious and Offensive Trades, Within the City of Sydney and its Suburbs
Type
Royal Commission

Royal Commission into Noxious and Offensive Trades 1882

CC BY-SA 2.0
by
Shirley Fitzgerald
,
2008

The stinking industries of mid-nineteenth century Sydney, combined with the theory of miasmas, or infection through smells, led to agitation to move 'noxious' trades away from the city. The Royal Commission of 1882 recommended changes to the siting of polluting industries, but this did not happen until well into the next century.

more ยป