New research reveals how Aboriginal peoples in southeastern Australia fought the smallpox epidemic of 1830-1832 using isolation, traditional treatments, and vaccination. The epidemic disproportionately affected First Nations people, but many communities survived and mounted resistance.
Background of the Epidemic
The smallpox outbreak spread across the southeast from 1830 to 1832, killing large numbers of Aboriginal people. Historical research has focused on origins, mortality, and settler culpability. However, Aboriginal warfare in the late 1830s suggests many communities survived. A lesser-known 1831 medical report by army doctor John Mair provides insight into Wiradjuri, Gomeroi, and Wailwan peoples' experiences with what they called "Boulol" and "Thunna Thunna."
Three Key Responses
Isolation and Separation
Old men at a cattle station in 1831 had smallpox scars from an earlier outbreak in 1789-1790, indicating prior knowledge. They used strategies like moving people away from disease centers. At one station, a smaller group isolated from a larger infected group, possibly a quarantine practice. At Wallerawang, Wiradjuri people fled to Emu Plains to escape the epidemic, recognizing its contagious nature, and returned after it subsided.
Devising Treatments
Bushranger George Clarke, who lived with Gomeroi people, described their treatments: immersion in cold water (later discontinued), scorching head hair, and pricking pustules with fish bones to release fluid. John Mair, a trained doctor, found these methods consistent with accepted medical interventions of the time, suggesting Aboriginal knowledge reduced mortality.
Getting Vaccinated
Mair offered vaccination to Aboriginal people, who accepted it readily compared to settlers. When vaccination failed, pastoralist Arthur Ranken used variolation (inoculation with smallpox pus) on Wiradjuri people, testing it in stages. However, they omitted quarantine, allowing the disease to spread further.
Aftermath
The epidemic was devastating, but Wiradjuri, Gomeroi, and Wailwan peoples actively responded using traditional knowledge and observation. From 1838 to 1844, they led an uprising that forced settlers to retreat in some areas, proving smallpox did not destroy their culture or will to fight.
