Influenza outbreaks remembered - 100 years on

2019 marks the centenary of the outbreak of Influenza in North Queensland in 1919. It was the same illness that had been sweeping the globe since the end of the First World War and would ultimately go on to claim the lives of somewhere between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide. The virulent form of pneumonic influenza - known as "Spanish Influenza" - reached Australia in early 1919, coinciding with the return of the soldiers of the AIF to Australia. 

SS Morialta. Photo: State Library of South Australia B-61166.

In May 1919, cases of Influenza were reported in Townsville. Passengers aboard the steamship Morialta were thought to be the source of infection.^[1] Free inoculation against the disease was offered and 6,000 locals took up the offer. Dr Walter Nisbet, Townsville's Medical Officer of Health, estimated that somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 of Townsville's citizens (or 25 per cent of the population) contracted the illness in some form.^[2] Eighteen people died in the outbreak, ten of those in hospital and eight in private homes. 

As in other cities throughout Australia, strict rules were imposed on Townsville's population to try and curb transmission of the illness. Public meetings were banned, picture theatres and schools were closed and the main city streets were sprayed with disinfectant. Townsville North State School (now Belgian Gardens State School) was requisitioned for use as an isolation hospital. The Army supplied and erected tents in the school grounds. Over a period of ten weeks, a total of 195 patients were treated at the makeshift hospital. A second isolation hospital was opened at St. Anne's School in June and remained in use for one month and three days. During that time, 108 patients were treated there.^[3]

In a letter to the Mayor of Townsville dated 15th August 1919, Dr Nisbet praised the efforts of the Matron in charge of the isolation hospital at Townsville North State School - Hannah Sarah Pengelly. He wrote: 

"The ideal and harmonious working of this hospital, chiefly with a band of young untrained workers, shows what women can do in an emergency. A large share of praise is also due to the tactful and untiring energies of the matron – Nurse Pengelly."^[4]

Matron Pengelly is buried in the West End Cemetery in Townsville.

Headstone of Hannah Sarah Pengelly, died 6 December 1940. Photo: T. Fielding

In Cairns, the outbreak began in June 1919. Again, the carrier was from a steamship in port, though this time it was the ship's Captain, not a passenger, that had the virus. Captain Tyree, of the SS Allinga, was not diagnosed with Influenza until after he had spent a full day in the city, and within just days, twenty cases had been reported.^[5]

SS Allinga. Photo: State Library of South Australia PRG 1324788

An isolation hospital, set up in the Girls State School, began taking in patients on 11 June.^[6] Matron Mary Gliddon, who had recently moved to Cairns after having left the Mareeba Hospital, volunteered her services as matron of the isolation hospital. She was assisted by Sister Middleton, of the Cairns District Hospital, with Dr Elliott the doctor in charge. By early July, both Matron Gliddon and Dr Elliott (along with four volunteer nurses) had contracted the illness, and were too ill to carry out their duties.^[7] This prompted an urgent call for women in the district to volunteer for nursing and domestic duties at the isolation hospital. A report in the Cairns Post on 4 July 1919 implored women, particularly women with no family or domestic responsibilities, to come forward, remarking that:

"the work of the authorities, however comprehensive, cannot be brought to fruition without the special skill that women's effort alone can supplement it with."^[8]

By late July, 60 people were being treated for Influenza in the isolation hospital.^[9] According to historian Patrick Hodgson, in the three months that Cairns battled the epidemic, there were (officially) 1007 cases of Influenza, resulting in ten deaths.^[10]

The isolation hospital at the Girls School was closed in late September 1919. Matron Gliddon went on to run her own private hospital - St. Anthony's Private Hospital - in Cairns, with the help of her mother, Nurse Margaret Gliddon.

---

^[1] Townsville Daily Bulletin, 26 May 1919, p. 4
^[2] Townsville Museum collection
^[3] Townsville Daily Bulletin, 16 July 1919, p. 6
^[4] Townsville City Libraries Local History Collection
^[5] Hodgson, Patrick, 'Flu, society and the state: the political, social and economic implications of the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic in Queensland', unpublished PhD thesis, 2017, James Cook University, p. 217.
^[6] Cairns Post 12 June 1919, p. 4.
^[7] Cairns Post 4 July 1919, p. 4.
^[8] Cairns Post 4 July 1919, p. 5.
^[9] Northern Herald 30 July 1919, p. 10.
^[10] Hodgson, Patrick, 'Flu, society and the state', p. 18

Old Quarantine Station - Pallarenda

In the 1880s a quarantine station was established at West Point on Magnetic Island for the purposes of isolating sick passengers on passing ships.  This station was damaged by severe cyclones Sigma in 1896 and Leonta in 1903 and owing to a lack of water and the difficulty of the distance from the mainland, the government decided to build an alternative station on the mainland.

Former Quarantine Station, Pallarenda, Townsville, 1976.
Photo:  CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection

The new Quarantine Station built at Pallarenda commenced with the construction of a timber jetty, which was completed by early 1914.  Over a period of seven months, commencing in November 1915, buildings at West Point were systematically dismantled and the building materials transported by barge from Magnetic Island to the mainland, for re-use at the Pallarenda station.  

Buildings that were moved included the hospital building, the married quarters, the hospital kitchen and the dining room.  These buildings had new functions at the new Quarantine Station at Pallarenda, which was in use by 1917.

Although materials from the old station at West Point were used at Pallarenda, new buildings were also constructed at the Pallarenda station, including a Disinfecting Block.  This building had tram tracks running through it.  Luggage was brought from the jetty on a trolley via the tracks through to the disinfection block where it was fumigated.  In contrast, the quarantined passengers had to walk from the jetty to the bath house, where they showered and changed.

Passengers were segregated according to the same class system that had divided them on board their ship.  There were separate quarters for men and women and the first and second class passengers had separate living and dining facilities.  In keeping with the racial attitudes of the day, there was a separate area for Asian passengers.  Housed in what was called the “Asiatic Shelter Shed”, these passengers slept in hammocks suspended under a shed with a concrete floor. 

The station was put to good use in the early part of the twentieth century, particularly during the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1919 and during sporadic outbreaks of bubonic plague that occurred until the early 1920s.

Signage at the former Quarantine Station, Pallarenda.
Photo:  Trisha Fielding. 

In August 1920 the steamer Roberto Figueras was on its way to Noumea when it arrived in Cleveland Bay carrying 1000 Vietnamese, 32 of whom were ill with suspected typhus.  Those who were sick were transferred to the quarantine station, while all others remained on board the ship, which took in supplies of coal and fresh water while it sat idle. 

The illness turned out to be meningitis, and 13 of those who had fallen ill, died at the station, and were buried there.  These were the only deaths to occur at the quarantine station during its use.        

During World War II the Quarantine Station continued its quarantine function, whilst also being used as an army hospital.  At this time a number of fortifications were built nearby, including two gun emplacements, two searchlight installations and a command post. 

The remains of WWII fortifications, Pallarenda.
Photo:  Trisha Fielding.

In 1974 the newly-formed Australian Institute of Marine Science moved into the site, bringing six temporary laboratories with them.  AIMS relocated in 1977 and in 1986 the area became an environmental park.  The Department of Environment and Resource Management have also been housed at the site.

Belgian Gardens School & the 1919 Influenza epidemic

As the Belgian Gardens State School celebrates its 125^th anniversary, it’s a great time to discuss an aspect of its history that is now almost forgotten.  The school, which was originally called the Townsville North State School, was requisitioned in 1919 during the Influenza epidemic for use as an isolation hospital.  Tents supplied by the army were erected in the school grounds.  Over a period of ten weeks, a total of 195 patients were hospitalised at the school and remarkably, considering the death rate, only six people died.

Dr Walter Blake Nisbet practised medicine in Townsville for 30 years, including during the 1919 Influenza epidemic.  He estimated that somewhere between 6,000 to 7,000 of  Townsville’s citizens (or 25%) of the population contracted the illness in some form.  Eighteen people died in the epidemic, ten of those in hospital and eight in private homes.  During the epidemic strict rules were imposed on Townsville’s population.  Public meetings were banned, picture theatres and schools were closed and the main city streets were sprayed with disinfectant.

In a letter to the Mayor of Townsville dated 15^th August 1919, Dr Nisbet (who was Medical Officer of Health at the time) praised the efforts of the Matron in charge of the isolation hospital - Hannah Sarah Pengelly.  He wrote:

“The ideal and harmonious working of this hospital, chiefly with a band of young untrained workers, shows what women can do in an emergency.  A large share of praise is also due to the tactful and untiring energies of the Matron – Nurse Pengelly”.

Both Dr Nisbet and Matron Pengelly are buried in the West End Cemetery in Townsville. 



Headstone of Walter Blake Nisbet, died May 1920. Photo: T. Fielding



Headstone of Hannah Sarah Pengelly, died 6 December 1940. Photo: T. Fielding