A Victorian perfumer has encapsulated the smell of Melbourne's traffic after being challenged by ABC Radio Melbourne to bottle its peak-hour activity.
Perfumer Janelle Donnelly was asked to create the scent, named Eau D'ometer, after speaking to the radio station about some of the city's commuter scents.
Ms Donnelly said she loved to push the boundaries, but she had never been asked to bottle the essence of traffic.
She hoped the finished product encapsulated the "tears of being stuck in Melbourne's traffic".
"We put in a little bit more black pepper to give it that intensity, so it would be sharper and have a more grating effect," Ms Donnelly said.
The fragrance was built on geosmin, which gave the product that earthy scent produced after rain, often referred to as petrichor.
"We also put in some vetiver, which is grassy."
Ms Donnelly also managed to capture the scent of petrol.
"That's the wood smoke," she said.
She added that despite its petroleum notes, wood smoke was very sought-after in perfumes.
A city steeped in smelliness
Heritage Victoria principal archaeologist Jeremy Smith said Melbourne had once smelt so bad that its scent could be smelt by sailors at sea.
"Kilometres out to sea, people could tell they were finally approaching Melbourne."
He said Melbourne's topography and sewage made the city subject to flooding, which could have caused the stench.
"The Werribee system didn't come online until quite late, so Melbourne did have a problem with cesspits, which were outlawed in the 1860s to try to stop people using them," Mr Smith said.
Heritage Victoria curator Annie Muir said Melburnians had long been using cologne, with perfume bottles dating back to the 1860s found in North Fitzroy homes.
Forming core memories
Philosopher Daniel Teitelbaum said while smell played a large role in an individual's perception of the world, it was one of the more neglected senses.
"Smell is very hard to categorise," he said.
But Mr Teitelbaum said smell often worked with other senses to help create and recall core memories.
After all, neurons in the brain connected to smell receptors did not work in isolation to other senses.
"The smell acts in the background to say, 'This is where you'll find this memory'," Mr Teitelbaum said.
"The idea is we need to understand how smell affects us so we can better understand how we can perceive the world."
