The Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners. Reports of Royal Commissions on Noxious Trades, 1870 & 1871. Silting up of the Bay, 1871 & 1872. Low Lands, 1873. Commissioner Paterson.

Melbourne : Government Printer, 1870-75. Six Royal Commission reports printed for the Parliament of Victoria (itemised below). Foolscap folio (320 x 205 mm), in a special presentation binding for James Paterson, Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioner, of limp maroon morocco with double-gilt rule (some light staining and moderate wear), cover stamped in gilt ‘The Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners. Reports of Royal Commissions on Noxious Trades, 1870 & 1871. Silting up of the Bay, 1871 & 1872. Low Lands, 1873. Commissioner Paterson.’; spine with gilt-ruled bands; all edges stained red; original yellow pastedowns and endpapers, the front pastedown with binder’s ticket of Mason, Firth and McCutcheon, Melbourne; binding firm, a few leaves with nicks at top edge, some light spotting to the outermost sections, otherwise internally very good.

A collection of six Royal Commission reports on issues relating to public health and the marine environment which would have a huge impact on urban planning in Melbourne for well over a century, in a unique binding for James Paterson (1826-1906), one of the Commissioners of the Melbourne Harbour Trust. Paterson was a Scottish immigrant who became a successful coal merchant and  shipping owner, and a long-serving Councillor for Lonsdale Ward in the City of Melbourne.

The following overview of the impact of noxious trades on Melbourne’s environment in the nineteenth century is published on the EMelbourne website:

‘The trades that process the by-products of livestock slaughtering – the blood, bones, fat, hair, wool, hooves, and the offal – were located near the public and private abattoirs, themselves usually sited along the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers and creeks discharging to Hobsons Bay. Air and water pollution were early evident in Melbourne, particularly during the upsurge of boiling-down of surplus stock during the 1840s depression, and during the meat-preserving boom of the late 1860s and early 1870s. Most of these factories were located on the lower Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers. By contrast tanners, fellmongers and wool-washers tended to locate on the upper Yarra where they could use fresh water.

Agitation against river and air pollution resulted in the Yarra Pollution Act (1855) and the discouragement of noxious trades above and opposite the city. Over time the trades tended to gravitate to the lower Yarra at Fishermans Bend and Yarraville, to Stony Creek and to the Maribyrnong at Flemington and Footscray, encouraged by the Sandridge (Port Melbourne), Footscray and Melbourne municipal councils. Their smells made the river approach to Melbourne notorious, and together with household drainage and nightsoil earned Melbourne the appellation ‘Marvellous Smelbourne’ (as opposed to Marvellous Melbourne). High levels of meat consumption, the rejection of offal except in hard times, and low levels of development and investment in preventative technology, together with the hot Australian summer, may have made pollution from noxious trades worse than in Britain.’

The following reports are contained in the binding:

Progress Report of the Royal Commission on Noxious Trades, etc.; with Minutes of Evidence. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency’s Command. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1870. pp. xi, 94.

Final Report of the Royal Commission on Noxious Trades, etc.; with Minutes of Evidence. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency’s Command. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1871. pp. xviii, 30.

Progress Report from the Select Committee upon the Silting-up of the Bay; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendices. Ordered by the Legislative Assembly to be printed, 1st November 1871. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1871. pp. vii, [2], 32.

Silting-up of the Bay. Report of the Royal Commission appointed by His Excellency the Governor to enquire into and report upon the alleged silting-up of Hobson’s Bay since the dredging operations; and also to enquire into and report upon the Dredging Department. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency’s Command. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1872. pp. xvii, 74.

Low Lands Commission. Progress Report. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency’s Command. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1873. pp. viii, 75.

Low Lands Commission. Final Report. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency’s Command. Melbourne : John Ferres, Government Printer, 1873. pp. 102.