A Time of Terror: the Black Death in Sydney

By Peter Curson

This book is about how Bubonic Plague arrived and spread through parts of Australia in the period 1900-1925. In particular it concentrates on the epidemic of Plague which affected Sydney in 1900 and in the following years. The book examines the impact of Plague on Sydney’s population and in particular how medical and governmental authorities struggled to come to grips with what Plague really was and how it spread. Without any doubt the Plague epidemic that broke out in Sydney in 1900 was the most devastating and traumatic event in Australia’s 19th Century history and the greatest social disaster to affect Australia’s population. The book explores the impact that Plague had on ordinary people and how they behaved and reacted during the epidemic crisis. At a public level this outbreak of Plague produced some of the greatest scenes of fear, hysteria and panic ever seen in Australia. The book also delves into how Government and Medical officials fought among themselves re how best to control the pandemic and stop in spreading. Plague also produced some extraordinary scenes of finding someone to blame. Neighbour turned on neighbour and people blamed the Chinese and other immigrant communities for introducing and spreading the disease.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669886891

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Copyright © 2022 by Peter Curson.

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Rev. date: 04/28/2022

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CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Pandemics and Epidemics Rule in the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 2 Plague on Australia’s Doorstep

Chapter 3 Sydney at the End of the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 4 Ashburton-Thompson—a Pioneer of Australia’s Public Health

Chapter 5 Plague in Australia 1900–1925

Chapter 6 The Black Death Arrives and Spreads through Sydney 1900

Chapter 7 Who Caught the Plague?

Chapter 8 Fear and Panic Rule

Chapter 9 Someone to Blame: The Search for Scapegoats

Chapter 10 The Official Reaction

Chapter 11 Cleansing and Scavenging—A Filthy City

Chapter 12 The Rat Pack

Chapter 13 Conflicts Reign

Chapter 14 After 1900, What Happened to the Plague?

Chapter 15 Did the Black Death Finally Disappear from Australia after 1925?

Conclusion

References

TABLES

1. Plague cases and deaths by Australian states 1900–1925

2. Plague cases and deaths in Australian cities and towns 1900–1925*

3. Major plague epidemics in Australia 1900–1922

4. Monthly distribution of plague cases and deaths in Sydney 1900

5. Number of plague attacks and deaths by age and sex in Sydney 1900

6. Number of people who fled or moved from Sydney during the 1900 plague epidemic and who transported plague to a new location

7. Plague cases and deaths by age and sex groups 1900

8. Plague cases and deaths in city of Sydney wards 1900

9. Plague cases and deaths Sydney suburbs 1900

10. Location of workplace of plague victims in City of Sydney wards 1900

11. Location of workplace of plague victims in Sydney suburbs 1900

12. Occupation of plague cases, Sydney 1900

13. Business places that yielded more than one case of plague Sydney 1900

LIST OF PLATES

1. Corner Sussex and Market Streets, City of Sydney. McCredie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

2. Old Huddart and Parker Wharf. Darling Harbour. McCredie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

3. Bottom of Druitt Street, City of Sydney. McCredie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

4. Rear Robinson Lane, City of Sydney. McCredie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

5. Stables at rear of 136 Reservoir Street, City of Sydney. McCredie File Courtesy State Library of NSW.

6. Photo of Dr Ashburton-Thompson. Town and Country Journal, 17 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

7. Ferry Lane. The Rocks Area. Site of first plague case in Sydney in 1900. Photo taken in 1989. Courtesy City of Sydney Archives

8. General View of Infected and Quarantined Area in Sydney 1900. The Sydney Mail 31 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

9. The Scare-Makers- The Printers’ Devils

10. RAT-TAT-TAT!

11. The Plague: VITADATIO

12. BUBONIC PLAGUE MIGHTY ALOK

13. THE BUBONIC PLAGUE -WASH AND PRAY

14. Gentle Reminder

15. Removal of Suspected Plague Case, Bates Lane, Sussex Street. Town and Country Journal 31 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

16. Quarantine Station Buildings, North Head. The Sydney Mail. 31 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

17. Quarantine Station Buildings. Peter Curson

18. Crowd awaiting to be inoculated against plague at Sydney Exhibition Building. The Sydney Mail. 31 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

19. Backyards 17-23 Exeter Place, City of Sydney. McCredie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

20. WC at back of 331 Sussex Street, City of Sydney. Mc Credie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

21. Toilet facilities rear of butcher’s yard with outhouses. Mc Credie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

22. Rear of 129 Gloucester Street, City of Sydney. Mc Credie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

23. Cleansing Team about to commence work at rear of 276 Sussex Street, city of Sydney. Mc Credie File. Courtesy of State Library of NSW.

24. Demolition Team at work at Exeter Place City of Sydney. Mc Credie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

25. Wanted – 30,000,000 Rats

26. How rats are destroyed in Sydney. The Town and Country Journal, 31 March 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

27. A Nursery Rhyme to Suit the Time

28. True Till Deth

29. Rat Catchers in Central Sydney. Mc Credie File. Courtesy State Library of NSW.

30. Heap of dead rats. Mc Credie File. Courtesy of State Library of NSW.

31. In Possession

32. The Plague in Sydney. Lyne and City Council.

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 The Epidemiology of Natural and Human Plague.

Figure 2 Municipalities and City Wards, Sydney 1900.

Figure 3 Cases of Plague by Place of Residence, Sydney 1900.

Figure 4 Cases of Plague by Place of Work, Sydney 1900.

Figure 5 Epizootics and Epidemics of Plague, Sydney 1900-09.

PREFACE

T O A LARGE extent, this book relies on material drawn from a wide array of published and unpublished sources all relating to the plague in Australia in the period 1900–1925. In particular, much use was made not only of official reports into the plague in Australia, but also newspaper and other comments relating to how people living in towns and cities responded and reacted to the plague affecting their everyday lives. The book attempts to reconstruct the way the plague spread throughout Sydney and other Australian towns and cities and explores the social and economic effects that the plague had on everyday life. It also investigates the efforts undertaken by John Ashburton-Thompson and his public health team and what they went through to present a true picture of what the plague really was, how it spread, and the role played by rats and fleas. Without any doubt, the 1900 plague epidemic that hit Sydney was the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in the nineteenth century.

For many years I have had an interest in how infectious disease spreads in time and space, and how ordinary people react and behave during times of epidemic crisis. So far, this has resulted in two books on bubonic plague in Australia, and this book makes the third. But this book differs in its approach to the plague epidemic in Sydney. For one thing, it explores the importance of fear and panic in people’s lives, the search for someone to blame, the conflicts that raged during the epidemic, the efforts that were made to clean up Sydney and kill as many rats as possible, and most importantly the battle that Ashburton-Thompson and his team had to fight to convince the public and various government authorities of what plague really was, how the disease spread, how it was influenced by the dilapidated and filthy state of the city of Sydney, and how it would impact on ordinary people. Finally, the book examines whether the plague really disappeared from Australia after 1925, never to return, and advances the possibility that the plague may have become permanently entrenched as an enzootic infection amongst some of Australia’s remote wildlife.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I N WRITING THIS book, I owe a considerable debt to the State Library of NSW, the Mitchell Library, and the City of Sydney Archives for access to and permission to reproduce photographs taken during the plague epidemic in 1900. The author’s interest in the plague extends back more than thirty years and was nurtured by his long-standing interest in how infectious disease spreads and how people respond and react when confronted by such crises. This book also owes a considerable debt to my daughter Alisa for all her helpful work on figures and diagrams and a myriad of computer problems. Finally, never least but often last, my wife, Sheila, who put up with her husband locked away in his study for hours each day over the last six months scribbling away about the plague.

INTRODUCTION

M AINTAINING THE PUBLIC’S health in Australia has always required a deft balancing act of trying to balance the overall health and wellbeing of the community against an individual’s rights and freedoms. As well on many occasions, the people responsible for maintaining our safety clash over what they believe is right and the direction to head in. In times of social and economic crisis such as the book addresses, it often becomes difficult, if not impossible, for the medical and various government agencies and councils to achieve this.

Epidemics of infectious diseases have been a continuous and important feature of Australian life throughout the last three centuries. Although many epidemics were short-lived and for the most part not great demographic crises, they nonetheless had a tremendous impact, and their effects were wide-ranging. Critically they captured public attention and were responsible for tremendous outpourings of fear, panic, and hysteria. They also became the prime cause of public health reform, particularly in the way they focused attention on the impoverished living and working conditions found in cities such as Sydney. Finally, they put to the test and challenged the government’s comprehension and management of outbreaks of infectious disease.

From the moment of European settlement in 1787, Australia was swept up in a recurring cycle of epidemics and pandemics. Many of these were major events in Australian history, causing many deaths and creating an incredible environment of fear and terror. Some remain almost largely forgotten today such as the pandemic of encephalitis lethargica which swept through Australia, causing thousands of cases in the 1920s. Others such as polio lingered on for more than fifty years, causing many cases and leaving a legacy of pain, fear, and mistrust. There is little doubt how epidemics and pandemics can easily sweep away the confidence and façade we erect around our lives and reveal much about how we as individuals regard death and disease, and how we and our governments react when confronted by such traumatic and life-threatening events.

Pandemics such as influenza, smallpox, plague, polio, and now coronavirus, reveal much about our reaction when confronted by life-threatening events and display much about how our governments have struggled to come to grips with, and control, major outbreaks of infectious disease and in many instances have failed to understand how ordinary people react and behave when confronted by outbreaks of infectious disease and how fear and panic can outpace the number of cases and deaths.

The epidemic of bubonic plague which began in Sydney in the late summer of 1900 and ended some seven months later was part of the last great pandemic of plague which spread from Southern China towards the end of the nineteenth century and which by 1900 had reached most parts of the world. When compared to the great historic outbreaks of plague, this pandemic did relatively little to alter the course of human history. Overall, this pandemic killed more than 30 million people around the world and claimed more than 520 lives in Australia between 1900 and 1922. The 1900 outbreak of plague was the first major epidemic of this dreaded disease to occur in Australia. It was not to be the last. Plague lingered on in Australia until the early 1920s, causing more than 10 major outbreaks, with 1,370 cases and 535 deaths from the deadly disease. Throughout these years, the worst outbreaks of plague were concentrated in Sydney and Brisbane although there were also cases of plague to be found in several coastal towns north of Sydney and as far north as Port Douglas in Queensland.

Officially more than 600 Sydney Siders caught the plague, and 196 died from it between 1900 and 1922. Quite possibly the official figures severely understate the true significance of plague. Partly this reflected the reluctance of medical and local authorities to admit that plague had in fact broken out and partly because the disease was sometimes misdiagnosed or not reported at all. There may well have been more than 1,000 people in Sydney alone who caught the plague, of which 400 were to die from it. This plague was part of a pandemic that swept out of China in the 1890s and lingered around the world for almost 50 years. In the case of Australia, it was without doubt one of the greatest social and economic disasters ever experienced.

The plague outbreak that descended upon Sydney in 1900 had all the ingredients of a great social tragedy. The people living in Sydney had no idea of what the plague was or how it spread. Many continued to believe that it was spread by direct contact with an infected person’s breath. Although only 303 people were recorded as catching the plague in Sydney in 1900, of which 103 died, the epidemic caused widespread social and economic dislocation, fear, hysteria, and panic. Neighbour fought neighbour, merchants fought against merchants, the rich against the poor, and almost everyone against the Chinese. It remains one of Australia’s greatest social tragedies. People were forcibly removed from their homes, houses cleansed and barricaded, and some demolished. People were shunned and avoided; and streets, schools, and businesses closed down while many people reported on their neighbours. All cases and contacts were removed to the North Head Quarantine Station, many being forcibly removed from their homes and workplaces.

Overall, fear, hysteria, and panic were widespread. Although the plague outbreak produced only a handful of cases and deaths, it produced scenes of mass panic, fear, and hysteria never before encountered in Australia’s history. The rat-flea concept of the plague’s transmission was still poorly understood in Australia when the epidemic broke out despite Hankin and Simond’s work a few years earlier, which strongly pointed to the fact that the disease was transmitted by fleas from the plague-infected rats. Such a view was embraced by Ashburton-Thompson, head of the Board of Health early in the epidemic, and his bacteriologist Frank Tidswell would produce a study that clearly identified the rat-flea link. The actual origin of the infection and the means of its introduction to Sydney may never be known. It seems fairly certain, however, that the disease was introduced from a shipboard infection of rats sometime either in late 1899 or early 1900, during which time at least thirteen ships from the plague-infected ports were known to have arrived at Sydney’s Darling Harbour wharves. The plague probably made the transfer from infected shipboard rats to wharf-based rats sometime in early 1900. Undoubtedly, a major epizootic took place among the rats living in and along the wharf and nearby streets. Given this, it was only a matter of time before human workers and local residents became infected.

Looking back on our history of epidemics and pandemics is important for a number of reasons. In the first place, while their demographic impact may have been limited, their