Prior to the introduction of a sanitary service, residents of Lambton had to manage the disposal of sewage themselves. This usually entailed the digging of cesspits in backyards. In April 1882 the Inspector of Nuisances reported complaints of overflowing cesspits and asked council to appoint a place for the deposition of night-soil. However no scheme was introduced and in the ensuing years there were occasional reports of people dumping nightsoil in the streets, in the drains, or burying it in gardens of dairies.

In the 1890s the subject of a sanitation scheme came up repeatedly in Lambton Council, but it was not until 1898 that serious efforts were made to obtain suitable land for the burying of night-soil. In November 1898 the council unsuccessfully sought to lease some land from the Waratah Coal Company, and was also unsuccessful in obtaining land from the Scottish Australian Mining Company.

Progress was hindered when the Lambton Council became bankrupt due to the failure of the electric light scheme and the council ceased to function On 18 July 1899 the ratepayers elected a 13 person “Citizens’ Committee” to look after municipal affairs instead.

In August 1899, Doctor Robert Dick, Medical Officer of Health to the Hunter River combined districts, issued a scathing report on the poor sanitation in Lambton. The details of Dr Dicks’ report are too gross to reproduce here, but his conclusion gives a a good indication of the squalor he witnessed.

The condition in which quite a number of the privies were found was disgusting. It will be gathered that every householder is practically a law unto himself or herself in regard to the manner in which nightsoil is dealt with. This is a most unsatisfactory and unsafe practice and one which should not be allowed to continue.

Because there was no functioning council to deal with these matters, Dr Dick recommended that the Nuisances Prevention Act be extended to the town. In May 1900 a Sanitary Committee was formed and the government allocated £200 for sanitary purposes in Lambton. The committee held a public meeting on 11 June 1900 which passed a resolution that “the pan system should be adopted for the removal of nightsoil within the municipality.”

In November 1900 the Citizens’ Committee approached Thomas Croudace, manager of Lambton colliery, to ask for land for a nightsoil paddock. In January 1901 Croudace “promised to consider the matter”, but no favourable response was received. The committee then asked in January 1902 for “the Government to resume an area suitable for the purpose”, and a few months later the paper reported that …

The long delay in having a sanitary service introduced for Lambton since the Government grant of £200 was expended in the purchase of the apparatus has been due to the want of a suitable depot. Now however, there is a hope of some finality being reached, Dr. Robt. Dick, the medical officer of health, having approved of a site of eight acres near the tram line, on the other side of Lambton, being recommended for resumption.

 
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 22 July 1902.

The “hope of some finality being reached” required a little more patience, for it took more than a year before the land for the nightsoil depot was secured in October 1903.

By means of a grant of £200, the citizens’ committee made a purchase of six hundred pans, with a view to providing the borough with a sanitary service, a public meeting having decided that such a service should be established. These have been stored in the council chambers for over eighteen months, while the difficulty of obtaining a depot was being overcome, owners of land having offered objections on every side. A ten-years’ lease of a site has, how ever, now been signed, at a rental of £5 per annum. The site is in Croudace’s paddock, near the pumping engine and comprises an area of five acres. A new sanitary waggon has been built, at a cost of £50, and a ton of iron on hand, and paid for, for the erection of a shed at the depot. The Government put £200 on the Estimates for the purchase of a site, and efforts are now being made to have this amount paid to the credit of the council.The council clerk, in a letter to the member, puts down the new expenditure as follows:-100 additional pans; £22 10s: fencing the site, £40; clearing, £20, building shed material, £20: laying on the water supply. £37; and the construction of two bridges and the making of a half a mile of roadway, £30; making a total of £179 10s. At the present time there is no sanitary service. The practice of burying in back yards is most objectionable in thickly populated areas, and the sooner the service can be established the better it will be for the health of the community.

 
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 23 October 1903.

After many delays and difficulties, the Lambton sanitary service was finally commenced on 1 July 1904.

Another reason why yesterday should be remembered by the public of Lambton was by the introduction of the long-promised sanitary service, in substitution for the uncivilised practice which has had to be resorted to up to the present. By the aid of a Government grant of £200 the Citizens’ Committee made a purchase of 600 pans. These were stored in the council chamber for over two years, while the difficulty of obtaining a depot and other difficulties were being overcome, owners of land having offered objections on every side. Eventually, a ten years’ lease of a seven-acre site was obtained in Croudace’s paddock, near the pumping engine, to the south of the Wallsend tramway; and, then, the additional difficulty arose of want of funds to complete the introduction of the system. Money was wanted for extra pans, for clearing and forming a road, for the building of a shed, for the laying on of the water to the depot, for the erection of two bridges, and for fencing the site. The Government put an extra £200 on the Estimates, and, when Parliament made this available, a start was made in real earnest to improve the sanitary condition of the place. There are now 850 pans, which were purchased at a cost of 4s 3d each, making an expenditure of £180 12s 6d. A sum of £50 was expended on a sanitary waggon, and it cost £40 to have the water laid on. When the cost of the shed, the clearing, the construction of the roadway and bridges, and the fencing of the depot had been met there was a slight credit balance, and it was decided to pay the ten years’ rental for the land at the rate of £5 per annum. The system was in debt by £50 when inaugurated yesterday, but arrangements have been made by which the scheme will be something more than self-supporting from year to year. A contract has been let for the removal and the burial of the nightsoil at 4d per pan per removal, and the charge made to the residents by the council is 6d per pan per removal. This 2d is estimated to bring in to the council a revenue, above that required for the payment of the contractor, of £3 5s per week, or £169 per year. Out of this the council will have to pay for the services of an inspector, and provide £60 for the maintenance of the pans and the upkeep of the waggon and roadway, while for this first year the sum of £50 will have to be provided to pay off the present indebtedness on the system. The Inspector, Mr. Joseph W. Oldham, has taken up his duties, and will be paid £26 a year, and be allowed 5 per cent. on the money collected. This might average another £26 per year. Of course this work will not occupy the Inspectors’ whole time, and no objection is to be raised to his continuing to hold the position of secretary to the local co-operative store. Mr. Oldham was formerly a Mayor of the Borough of New Lambton. Had Mr. Johnson, the council clerk, been physically able to undertake the duties of inspector and collector, such duties would have been combined with those of council clerk.

 
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 2 July 1904.

Construction of a piped sewerage system commenced in Lambton in early 1916, and was completed by March 1917 and most residences were connected to the sewer within a few years. However there were some area such as Griffiths Flat, where the sewerage system did not reach until much later, and the pan collection service and sanitary depot continued to be used for many years.

The council’s lease of the sanitary paddock expired in September 1938.

In 1955 the Scottish Australian Mining Company sold 180 acres of land, including the area of the nightsoil paddock, to Provincial Gardens Pty Ltd who then constructed the Skyline drive-in theatre on the site.

Newspaper articles / Events

Article Date Event Date	Notes
11 Nov 1863	Purchase by Morehead and Young of 320 acres of land, Mineral Lease 14, for Lambton Colliery. Vol-Fol 2-4. Land transferred to Scottish Australian Mining Company on 24 December 1873. Vol-Fol 91-10
28 Apr 1882	"From the Inspector of Nuisances, that complaints had been made about overflowing cess-pits, and asking Council to appoint a place for the deposition of night-soil."
18 Aug 1892	"Complaint was made of the practice of burying nightsoil in gardens on dairy premises."
16 Jan 1896	"Alderman Hardy called attention to the practice of tipping rubbish on the footpath at the intersection of Kendal and Croudace streets. Some person had also deposited nightsoil there."
16 Nov 1898	Crorrespondence received by Lambton Council "from the secretary, of the Waratah Coal Company, stating, in reply to inquiries made by the council, that the company did not care to lease any part of their land for a nightsoil paddock."
24 Aug 1899	Doctor Robert Dick's scathing report on the sanitary state of Lambton, and recommending that the Nuisances Prevention Act be extended to the town.
20 Apr 1900	"Mr. Arthur Griffith has made a representation to the Hon. the Treasurer that in the interest of public health a sum of about £200 should be immediately placed in the hands of the citizens' committee of Lambton to be expended in carrying on the necessary sanitary works of the borough."
30 May 1900 28 May 1900	"Mr. Treherne Evans, secretary of the Citizens' Committee, read a communication received from Mr. Griffith, M.P., intimating that the sum of £200 was available for sanitary purposes, and asking if the Citizens' Committee would undertake the expenditure of the sum, and if so to submit names as trustees."
2 Jun 1900 1 Jun 1900	At a meeting of the Lambton Sanitary Committee, Mr. Holland moved, "That the Government be asked to provide a nightsoil paddock for the Lambton municipality."
12 Jun 1900 11 Jun 1900	Public meeting passes the resolution "That in the opinion of this meeting the pan system should be adopted for the removal of nightsoil within the municipality."
8 Sep 1900 6 Sep 1900	Report at a Lambton Citizens' Committee meeting that "the sub-committee appointed to inspect the proposed area for a nightsoil depot on the western side of the municipality had done so, and that the ground was, in their opinion, suitable for the purpose and easy of access. "
16 Nov 1900 15 Nov 1900	"The secretary [of the Lambton Citizens' Committee], Mr. T. Evans, read a communication from Mr. Thomas Croudace, general manager S.A. Mining Company, in reply to a request made by the committee for an area of land for a nightsoil paddock, and suggesting that an effort be made to secure a portion of Griffiths' Flat. The letter was received, and the secretary instructed to again write to Mr. Croudace, intimating that the committee had failed to secure a portion of land on Griffiths' Flat before they applied to the company. It was resolved to ask Mr. Croudace to lease the committee 2 acres of land on the southern side of the tramline for a nightsoil paddock, and that if necessary, a deputation would wait upon him."
12 Mar 1902	"By means of a grant of £200 obtained by Mr. Griffith, the citizens' committee made a purchase of 600 pans, with a view to providing the borough with a sanitary service, a public meeting having decided that such a service should be established. Then the difficulty was to get a depot for the soil. This difficulty has still to be overcome, owners of land offering objections on every side. An unsuccessful effort was recently made to obtain the use of an old shaft on the New Lambton Company's estate, and the Waratah Council declined. Thus a second deadlock has been reached. Mr. Griffith was to have come up about a week ago to see a site which the Government might be asked to resume, but he merely sent a letter apologising for his absence."
22 Mar 1902 20 Mar 1902	Lambton Citizens' Committee: "Mr. Griffith M.P., had met a few members of the committee in the early part of the week when the need of a nightsoil paddock was fully explained to him. Mr. Griffiths promised to do his best to urge upon the Government to reserve a piece of land for the purpose as soon as possible. The tender of Mr. John Rees, Newcastle, was accepted for a sanitary waggon for the sum of £48 10s."
4 Jun 1902 2 Jun 1902	At the Lambton Citizens' Committee meeting "a letter was received from Mr. H. T. Jones, who had been appointed to inspect the construction of the sanitary waggon for the committee, stating that the work had been performed in a satisfactory manner."
23 Oct 1903	Ten year lease of five acres for sanitary depot at Lambton about to be finalised.
5 Nov 1903	Lease from the Scottish Australian Mining Company for the night soil paddock. Vol-Fol 996-111, page 1.
5 Nov 1903	Commencenent of lease for sanitary paddock. Vol-Fol 996-111, page 1.
2 Jul 1904 1 Jul 1904	Inauguration of the Lambton sanitary service.
21 Feb 1916	"Good progress is being made with the sewerage work at Lambton. The strenuous manner in which the men are working in the trenches, often ten to fifteen feet deep, is sufficient evidence that after all, the day labour is not a failure, as asserted by some people."
21 May 1917	"Now that the Lambton section of the sewer is complete and taken over by the Water and Sewerage Board, quite a number of applications have been lodged by owners for the connecting of their premises. The business or congested part of the municipality will receive first consideration, together with the schools and public buildings."
6 Nov 1917	"The Lambton Council had reported that the sewerage of the municipality had been completed, that premises were being connected with the sewer as fast as possible, that it would only be a short time when the sanitary service could be abolished altogether."
13 Dec 1920	"The council's sanitary depot, situated in the western part of the S.A.M. Company's estate, has been inaccessible owing to the flooded state of the creek on either side."
2 Nov 1925	"The town clerk of Lambton (Mr. H. J. Noble) reported to the council last week that two premises had been connected with the sewerage system during the fortnight making a total of 401 installations, representing a decrease of 606 sanitary services each week."
13 Nov 1929	"Good progress is being made with the provision of sewerage facilities for the Waratah-Lambton Valley, in the Griffiths Flat area. The total expenditure has amounted to £8255, and 55 men are employed on the work."
8 Feb 1933 7 Feb 1933	"A reduction of 22½ per cent., as from January 1, bringing the rent of the sanitary depot down to £3/17/6 a year, was the information received from the Scottish-Australian Mining Co., Ltd."
2 Sep 1938	Expiry of lease for sanitary paddock. Vol-Fol 996-111, page 10.