Sydney's most famous "stink pipe" is the one known as The Obelisk in Elizabeth Street opposite Bathurst Street in the city and it was passed by trams running along that thoroughfare. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any photo showing tams passing.... The attached photo from Sydney Water's web site does show tramway overhead (to keep it a bit on topic!)..

http://tdu.to/The_Obelisk_Elizabeth_St_Sydney.jpg

Sydney Water's site includes a brochure (the only stink pipe to have its own brochure?) which describes the vent pipe as follows (in part):

The Obelisk was the first and only major sewer vent on Sydney's first planned sewerage system. It was built to eliminate noxious gases from the sewer bringing the foul gases out above street level.

Modelled on Cleopatra's Needle on the banks of the Thames in London, the Obelisk is better known as the oldest monument within Hyde Park than as part of the sewerage system. It is notable also for its contribution to the streetscape of Sydney providing a focal point at the intersection of Bathurst and Elizabeth Streets.

The Obelisk's rendered brick and sandstone vent shaft was the only means of ventilating Sydney's first sewerage system which was completed by the City of Sydney Council in 1857. This system consisted of five principal out-fall sewers discharging to the harbour at Blackwattle Bay, Darling Harbour, Sydney Cove, Bennelong Point and Woolloomooloo. Ventilation of sewers was introduced in the 1850s to protect the workers from poisonous gasses accumulating in the conduits. It was considered a major innovation of the sewerage process, although of somewhat ambiguous popularity.

The Obelisk was unveiled in December 1857 by the then Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, George Thornton. It attracted much acclaim as a monument until citizens became aware of its true purpose. Sydneysiders nicknamed it Thornton's Stink Pot or Thornton's Smelling Bottle, amused that the elaborate Egyptian-style brick and sandstone column was actually a sewer vent.

Despite the controversy the Obelisk provided a model on which the rest of the city's tall brick vent shafts were based in 1875. Eventually the majority of these ornate structures were replaced with smaller steel tube vents at more regular intervals. The Obelisk remains as a rare example of the neo-Egyptian style of architecture popular in the 1850s and is one of the few remaining structures within the City of Sydney built in this style.

The Obelisk was handed over to the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board in 1889 and is still owned and managed by Sydney Water although it has not been an operating part of the sewerage system since the 1970s. It is now used to ventilate the Bennelong Stormwater Channel (formerly known as Bennelong Combined Sewer and Stormwater system).

In recognition of the importance of this early vent shaft to the people of Sydney and New South Wales, the Obelisk was entered on the NSW State Heritage Register on 15 November 2002. It is also listed in three other heritage registers: Sydney Water's Section 170 Heritage and Conservation Register, the Register of the National Estate and the National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage List.

Bob M
who does not have a photo of trams passing The Obelisk.