Kōrero: Sewage, water and waste

This 1961 photograph of an outhouse in an Auckland backyard could have been taken decades earlier. Until the early 1900s outhouses were usually separate from the main house. This one was built against the back of the house. By the 1960s it probably had a toilet installed with a connection to the sewer. In the 1800s, before town sewerage systems were built, outhouses were common in backyards. When the cesspit beneath filled the outhouse was moved to another spot.