Story: Streets and lighting

Open sewer, Queen Street

Open sewer, Queen Street

The condition of many early streets was primitive. They were dust bowls in summer and quagmires in winter. This is Auckland’s Queen Street in the 1860s. It was bisected by a stream called the Ligar Canal – formerly Te Wai Horotiu. It was little more than an open sewer, and a hazard for the unwary pedestrian.

Using this item

Auckland City Libraries - Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, Sir George Grey Special Collections
Reference: 4-400
Photograph by James D. Richardson

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Adrian Humphris, 'Streets and lighting - Building and funding streets', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/24474/open-sewer-queen-street (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Adrian Humphris, published 11 Mar 2010