Special Episode 17. Medicine in Colonial Australia with Professor Chris Reynolds (Part 2)
The first fleet comprised of 11 ships and 1420 people arrived in Australia’s Botany Bay under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip in January 1788 after an 8-month journey from Portsmouth. On the voyage there were 48 deaths and 28 births but no recorded serious illnesses such as smallpox or tuberculosis. The colonists subsequently resettled in port Phillip Bay and quickly had to learn to adapt to an environment that was as foreign to them as it must have been for the local indigenous population of aboriginals who made first contact with these white skinned strangely dressed travellers.
Many of the settlers first crops failed and stock brought with them aboard either died, absconded, or were eaten necessitating an early call for help to replenish dwindling supplies.
This initial lack of nutrition jeopardised the viability and success of the newly forming colony. Second and third fleets arrived in 1790 and 1791.
The illnesses and medical conditions that early colonial Australians faced has interested me for some time and after hearing a very interesting radio conversation with historian and constitutional lawyer Professor Chris Reynolds I was honoured to have him join our conversation exploring this subject further.
Chris has completed an excellent history of early colonised Australia called What a Capital Idea - Australia 1770-1901 available from Reynolds publishing (link in the show notes below). What a Capital Idea is essential reading for anyone interested in this period of Australian settlement, carefully researched, and written in colourful prose it affords an intimate familiarity with many famous characters, explorers, and events over those years.
My curiosity for colonial medicine extended to enquire about the nutritional health concerns encountered by early colonists, how water was purified, and how adequate balanced meals could be provided in a new foreign land. I was also fascinated to learn of the smallpox epidemic of 1789 which was devastating to our indigenous first AUSTRALIANS.
Further diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, influenza, and STD’s all earn mention. Alcoholism was a very significant problem amongst colonists as it remains in some quarters today but to a much lesser extent with our rigorous regulations around brewing and distribution. We discuss the medical problems encountered on our goldfields during the madness of the goldrush days in the 1850’s where dysentery was rife and food hygiene extremely poor. Indeed, William Howitt writing from the goldfields at that time where up to 1000 sheep were being slaughtered each day… “They are in their millions all over the country, they cover your horses, your load and yourselves, at your meals in a moment, myriads come swooping down, cover the dish and the meat on your plates till they are one black moving mass……”. It’s easy to imagine how disease spread quickly in that environment.
Leaving gold fever aside, first nations people had survived in Australian conditions for thousands of years coping with illnesses and climatic hardship so what if anything have, we learned in a medical sense from the indigenous people?
Chris Reynolds completed his PhD and Masters degrees at Americas Claremont Graduate University and has held appointments as Senior Professional Staff with both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He has held several executive roles with NSW government including Executive Director of the World Trade Centre, Sydney. He has worked as a schoolteacher, University professor and political strategist and has applied his breadth of knowledge and experience to writing What a capital Idea-Australia 1770-1901.
Please welcome Professor Chris Reynolds to the podcast.
References:
What a Capital Idea- Australia 1770-1901. Christpher Reynolds. Reynold Learning. www.Reynoldlearning.com
Medicine in Colonial Australia,1788-1900, MJA,7 July 2014
Illness in Colonial Australia. Smith FB, Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011