Guard, Isolation Camp, Ascot Vale, 29 September 1916. Well-armed against any meningitis outbreak. Courtesy of drakegoodman on Flickr.
Lest you think contact tracing is something new ....... nope. The men confined to the Isolation Camp in Ascot Vale were contacts of men in the Broadmeadows Army Camp diagnosed with diseases like cerebro-spinal meningitis, measles, whooping cough, and so on.
The race to find a vaccine for a life threatening virus? All done before.
Compulsory quarantine for travellers? Yup.
Special hospital wards for diseased patients? Again, yup.
The only thing we don't seem to have is the Cheerup Brigade delivering cakes for those in Isolation.
"For the hospital wards - jelly, 2 slices cream sandwich, 1 rainbow, 1 Swiss roll, 1 diamond sponge (special diet).
This is clearly something which requires re-visiting.
In the meantime, gathered in one place for your reading pleasure, links to articles about all of those things by Marilyn Kenny and Lenore Frost on two local history websites, Time Travellers in Essendon and Flemington and The Empire Called and I Answered: the Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington.
Troopship Boonah and the 1919 Influenza Epidemic
HMT Boonah Quarantined at Torrens Island
Poverty, Plague and Pestilence
Patrick James Flanagan, Medical Health Officer
No comments:
Post a Comment