Mrs Fraser and Mr Booth lived in comfortable homes with lawns, gardens and water frontages and only a road separating their properties. Mr Booth had lived in his home since 1943 and Mrs Fraser arrived in 1946. Soon after a problem arose between them.

Mr Booth was a pigeon fancier. His lofts, housing 350 birds, were the biggest in Sydney and his days were spent caring for them. For training purposes, he released the birds in lots of 50 to 100 at intervals throughout the day. They were allowed to fly around for a while and then he would call them back to the loft using noises such as shaking a tin full of pebbles. In between, he kept busy cleaning out the lofts.

Mrs Fraser hated the birds flying around her property. She found the swooping and swishing annoying and was disturbed by all the other noises such as the scraping to clean the lofts, the dog barking and the calling of the birds. Mrs Fraser decided to take legal action.