PDF (Whole thesis) - UTas ePrints - University of Tasmania

123
. .
1•
scruples or one drachm of Peruvian bark mixed with a teaspoonful of
port \'line or water to be taken and repeated every two or three hours .
The Counci 1 also responded by passing Bye-la\>JS designed to make the
streets cleaner . The Courier, like the Colonist, suggested that the
Government and the Council should establish a Medical Commission to
enquire into the cause of the diseases . Was it due to the unclean
streets and the filthy state of the Rivulet ?
As if influenza and scarlet fever were not enough , on August 28
the dreaded scourge of smallpox reared its ugly head. In a supplement
to the Government Gazette, the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, La Trob e,
proclaimed that smallpox had broken out in California, Honolulu and the
Sand\>J ich Islands , and that it could be brought to the Australian colonies ;
henceforth all ships which had visited these places en route to Australia
were to be quarantined for a period of not less than two days or more on
arrival in Victorian \>Jaters . The next day a Government notice,
Numb er 110, in Van Diemen 's Land announced that smallpox had appeared in
Ne\>J South Wales . The Medical Department in Hobart To\>Jn acted immediately.
On August 30, the Hobart To\>Jn Gazette advertised that gratuitous
vaccination was avai lable on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at
the General Hospitals at Hobart Town, Launceston, Ne\>J Norfolk and Ross;
in addition all medical practitioners were advised that vaccine lymph was
available by post on application to the Principal Medical Officer . The
t
'I
f·
I
I,
I
j
f
l.
I'
i:
I
l
[
I
I
F
'I
'•
:
•,
,
'
following day a correspondent to the Courier suggested that vaccination
should be made compulsory as in Britain. Five \'leeks later, on October 5,
the Legislative Counci l, alive at last to the dangers of the situation,
passed the Vaccination Act which made vaccination compulsory for children
above the age of six months and under fourteen years .
· All October and, November the presence of scarlet fever and the
fear of smallpox bedevi lled the people, wh ilst the press urged compliance
\>Ji th the Vaccination Act and exhorted the Government and the Council to
take appropriate measures , such as the appointment of a City Health
Officer to supervise the \'/retched lodging houses . Furthennore, on
November 9, Denison joined the ranks of those who were clamouring for
greater cleanliness in the city by reading a paper to the Royal Society
"On Drainage and Sewerage of To\>ns '' . 6 A former captain in the Royal
6
W. Denison, "On Drainage and Sewerage etc . of Towns with special
relation to the late Epidemics in Hobart Town and Launceston",
I P.P.R.S., 1854, PP · 361-372 .