When the Launceston epidemic of 1903 began, so too did rumours of who had introduced the dread disease of smallpox to the city. Human nature being what it is, an ‘ outsider’ was suspected. Just as with the conspiracy theories we are familiar with today (including
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It’s hard to imagine Sydney having an epidemic of bubonic plague, but that’s what happened in 1900. The infection arrived on a visiting ship in January, and spread in overcrowded, unsanitary slums. THE PLAGUE – PARRAMATTA’S PRECAUTIONS I hadn’t realized there was a vaccine against plague, but
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