From millionaire’s row to public housing: Barangaroo rats seek board and lodging in Millers Point

An influx of rats at Millers Point may be the result of a colony at Barangaroo being disturbed.

Millers Point residents battling big, noisy new rat population

Colony likely turfed out from Barangaroo by building works

Vermin adding to stress of community already in upheaval

Large rats are on the march to Millers Point.

Residents are reporting an influx of large vermin believed to be migrating from nearby Barangaroo where construction has disturbed their usual digs.
The historic buildings are the perfect nesting place for the rodents, with wall and roof cavities serving as suitable places to seek out food and lodging.



Millers Point resident Barney Gardner with one of the suburb’s new arrivals.

Long-time resident Barney Gardner, who has seen the rats first-hand, said a number of families were contending with the pests in their homes.

“One woman was telling me she found this really large rat in her home,” he said.

FIRST MILLERS POINT PUBLIC HOUSING PROPERTIES LISTED 
              
“It was running around her place and it managed to chew its way through the carpet and then through the wooden stairs






One of the unwanted residents at Millers Point.

One theory is they have migrated from the Barangaroo site

He said another resident could hear them through the walls, “It’s not a nice thing to think about.”

“There is another lady in the street who said she is having to shut her bedroom door at night because she has become so scared of these rats,” he said.

“I have seen these rats before, they scurry around at night, but whether they are coming from Barangaroo is not definitely clear yet.”



A plague of vermin is the last thing residents need in Millers Point after contending with ongoing evictions from public housing.

Director of city operations with the City of Sydney Garry Harding said there were several reasons why rat numbers might be on the rise in Millers Point.

“The workers at Barangaroo may have been leaving food scraps which attract more rats,” he said.
“Then when those food sources dry up the rats will move on to try and find food elsewhere.

“It could also be that there may be more people feeding birds in the park. If the birds don’t eat all the food it attracts the rats.”

Rat catchers beside their catch in 1900 when the city was plaguplaguednfected vermin

Rats are nothing new for the harbourside suburb which was among those under siege from infected rats more than a century ago.

In 1900, Millers Point was quarantined after infected rats embarked off ships bringing the bubonic plague to Sydney.

CITY UNDER SIEGE AS BUBONIC PLAGUE GRIPS SYDNEY

A squadron of Sydney ratcatchers formed and in the next few months, more than 44,000 rats were officially killed and burned in a special rat incinerator.

Some councils were reportedly paying six pence a rat, making the pestilence very profitable.



Millers Point circa 1900. The historic suburb is still home to many of the original townhouses.

RATS IN THE RANKS
 

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Mr Gardner said efforts were being made to remove the rats, but there was some way to go.

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“Whoever has come down here and set traps has been doing some good and they are killing them humanely,” he said.

Resident BeV Sutton said a plague of rats was the last thing the community needed after battling the State Government over the eviction of public housing tenants.

“There are probably more two-legged rats in Millers Point at the moment than four-legged but we keep soldiering on and we hope that soon this whole mess will all work out,” she said.

“But in all seriousness I have heard that there may be issues with some of the houses on the high street because the rats’ nests are being disturbed.”


Resourced: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/from-millionaires-row-to-public-housing-barangaroo-rats-seek-board-and-lodging-in-millers-point/story-fngr8h22-1227021590799?nk=1bd087ce4e5f279afc4f7c3ddc31936a