Convicts & Colonials: Health & Welfare

Health of Convicts
The 24th Regulation of the 1829 Regulations for Penal Settlements, was that a monthly medical inspection be undertaken of the entire convict population by the Medical Officer in Charge who then reported on the general state of health to the Commandant.

Dr. William McTaggart Dorsey
The first doctor arrived in Ipswich in 1842, the first year of free settlement. This was Dr. William McTaggart Dorsey who built a simple house at West Ipswich (Little Ipswich) near the One Mile Bridge (this was then just a shallow creek crossing). This was a slab and bark humpy near the pound yard.

Dr. Dorsey built a small cottage "hospital" for his patients but it would have had almost few medical facilities as we know them - probably just a bed where patients could stay.

Photograph from 'The Curious case of Dr. Dorsey and his ducks - History out there

Dr. Henry Challinor
Henry Challinor who was the surgeon-superintendent of the immigrant ship 'Fortitude' arrived in Ipswich in 1849. Discover the story of Dr. Henry Challinor and his contribution to Ipswich.

Ipswich General Hospital
A meeting was held on 15 April 1856 in the Court House to discuss the formation of a public hospital. Colonial Charles George Gray presided over the meeting were it was unanimously carried:

That the want of a public hospital at Ipswich having been long and much felt, the growing importance of that town, and the increasing population of that town, and the increasing population of the squatting districts beyond, demand that the establishment of such an institution should be no longer delayed.

The First Hospital
The following information has been reproduced with permission form the Ipswich Hospital Museum who published the article in the first newsletter "Museum Matters".

The first Hospital Building was completed in November 1859 on the five acres granted by the New South Wales Colonial Government. The same Government granted £1500 for the building which, with additional public subscriptions, was built for £2179.

Designed by Charles Tiffin and principally constructed by McCormack & Crossley the building was a two storey brick building with a slate roof. The ground floor accommodated 13 patients; Matron’s office and bedroom; dispensary; servants’ room and storeroom, the top floor provided three 8 bed wards, Cellars provided additional storerooms. Ceilings were unlined. Candles and lamps provided lighting. In most wards, fireplaces provided heating. Water was provided from a brick tank adjacent to the kitchen which was filled from the roof and water hauled from the river. Buckets provided for toilet needs.

Out-buildings included a kitchen, bathhouse, laundry, “dead” house, hayshed (for bedding) and two brick closets erected over the cesspit (150 yards from the main building).

As Queensland had separated from NSW, the initial grant of £500 for furnishing the new building was disputed. QLD provided the funding and the first patient was received 3rd March 1860.

The hospital building was improved by the addition of balconies and verandas in 1864, ceilings and other embellishments in 1874 and additional wings added (southern side in 1880 and northern side in 1883).

The building was demolished in 1984.

Early Ipswich Fever Epidemics
The second edition of Museum Matters revealed information about early epidemics in Ipswich.

In the 1800s the disease that truly frightened people was the fever epidemic. It would sweep through a community, striking almost at random, afflicting the young and the old with grievous symptoms that frequently resulted in death. A family could be decimated in just a few weeks.

The causes of these diseases was not understood, how it was carried from one victim to the next was conjecture, and the treatments available were rudimentary. Diseases known to cause these epidemics
include:

• Malaria and Blackwater Fever. (Spread by mosquitos).
• Typhoid (Spread through contaminated food and water), also called Goal (jail) Fever because it was common in the crowded goals of the period.
• Typhus (spread by fleas, ticks and mites), a bacterial infection which was said to have killed more of Napoleon’s soldiers in the Russian Campaign than were killed in battle. In 1852 A mother and father died of Typhus near Toowoomba leaving orphaned children. Other cases were reported in the colony and all were found to have been passengers on the ship “Rajahgopaul”. There was outrage in the local press that immigration and quarantine officials had allowed these passengers to land putting the colony at risk, instead of quarantining the ship.
• Measles (spread by coughing and sneezing).
• Scarlet Fever (spread by coughing and sneezing,) was a leading cause of child deaths in the 1800s. In 1859, 4 adults and 19 children on the immigrant ship “Glentanner” from Britain died from measles and scarlet fever.
• Cholera (spread by contaminated food and water.)

It was believed these fevers were spread by the miasma, (the toxic vapours and stench of filth and corruption).

Isolation was the favoured treatment to prevent the spread of the disease. Some drugs such as quinine were available; and nursing care with treatments and potions to mitigate the symptoms supported the patient until the fever had passed.

Fever wards to house the isolated fever patients were airy and well ventilated often on hilltops to allow the “miasma” to safely disperse. To protect families and communities, treatment at the hospital isolation ward was preferred. Hospital staff were also at risk.