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Dictionary of Sydney

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Won Ping

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Won Ping

Survivor of the 1881 smallpox epidemic, who was isolated for many weeks at the North Head quarantine station.

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Epidemics Smallpox epidemic 1881

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Chinese Epidemics Quarantine

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Epidemics

From the new European diseases that devastated Sydney's Aboriginal people in the eighteenth century, through subsequent epidemics of measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, influenza and HIV, Sydney has faced major threats from epidemic disease. Religion, media, and public health responses influenced the degree of panic and scapegoating that took place, though effective treatments were not in place until well into the twentieth century.

Smallpox epidemic 1881

Starting with a small Chinese child in The Rocks, the smallpox epidemic of 1881-82 had large consequences for the Chinese community who were further reviled and restricted and for the dozens of Sydneysiders quarantined for months at North Head. Despite the relative mildness of the outbreak, fear was rife, and the epidemic led to an overhaul of the colony's health regulations.

Chinese

Epidemics

Quarantine