Sydney Council started a massive cleansing operation in 1900 to stop further outbreaks of the bubonic plague ravaging the city. Its focus was the run-down, rat-infested houses and businesses in the poorest parts of town. One of these was the infamous Wexford Street — full of gambling houses and brothels — where, it was said, anyone who dared walk this street in the 1890s needed to be armed. The street, south of Hyde Park, was demolished to become part of Wentworth Avenue.