In April 1789, Sydney, Australia, experienced one of its most violent outbreaks of smallpox when the disease swept through aboriginal and colonial Australians on the coast.[1][2] The outbreak began in early March with the first cases appearing in a tribes living near Port Jackson. [3] Aboriginal communities had no preexisting immunity to smallpox, and suffered mortality rates of around 70%. [4]
Smallpox in Sydney edit
Aboriginal tribes on Arnhem Land first contracted smallpox when they made infectious contact with fishermen from southeast Asia.[5][6] Governor Arthur Philip estimated that around half of the aboriginal population around Sydney harbor died in the outbreak. [6]
References edit
- ^ "Smallpox epidemic". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ Chris Warren. Smallpox, the First Fleet, and Port Jackson Tribes. Event occurs at 2:14.
- ^ "Sydney's smallpox outbreak of 1789 - Biological warfare against Aboriginal tribes". www.nationalunitygovernment.org. 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ corporateName=National Museum of Australia; address=Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula. "National Museum of Australia - Smallpox epidemic". www.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Peter Hiscock (12 December 2007). Archaeology of Ancient Australia. Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-134-30440-0.
- ^ a b Hiscock, Peter (2008). Archaeology of Ancient Australia. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-203-44835-9.
.svg){kind=small}  | This article related to the history of Australia is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
.svg){kind=small} | This epidemic- or pandemic- related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |