In the 1880s and 1890s, Ipswich was seriously affected by a number of epidemics with outbreaks of typhoid, dengue and scarlet fevers as well as diphtheria. These epidemics resulted in large increases in the number of patients being admitted to the Ipswich Hospital. In 1889, fever cases made up 25% of hospital admissions and for the first time ever the annual number of inpatients at the hospital was over 800. During this time period, medical professionals in Ipswich were unlikely to have had diagnostic aids so the nature of a person’s illness was determined by their account of the complaint and the doctors’ observations during examinations.

At the end of the 1890s, a scarlet fever epidemic caused overcrowding at the hospital which was the result of both the number of patients admitted to fever wards and the six-week isolation period introduced by Dr Thornton. In January of 1899, the Blackstone and Dinmore State Schools were closed to help stop the spread of the fever. Come March the disease was still prevalent, affecting people from the Ipswich municipality and the divisions of Purga, Bundanba (Bundamba), Rosewood and Brassall. The hospital Board of Management attempted to have the authorities from other divisions pay for their own fever patients but this debt was something that most of the authorities managed to avoid.

In the twentieth century, Ipswich continued to be affected by epidemics which caused concern and at times panic in its citizens. The bubonic plague re-emerged as an epidemic in Hong Kong in 1894 and spread throughout the Pacific via the rats and fleas that lived on ships, reaching Sydney in 1900. The Council implemented measures to control the rat population and at one point offered residents money for every dozen rats delivered to the Corporation Yards in Gordon Street. Rats were then sent to Brisbane for testing and some were discovered to be carriers of the plague, Bacillis.

There were four plague outbreaks in Ipswich between 1900 and 1908. In this period, twelve people contracted the disease and five of them died. The first person to be infected in the area was an infant child from One Mile. The family was quarantined and police guarded the house 24 hours a day. The family received food during this period, although they were not allowed to collect it until the delivery man had moved out of harm’s way. Thankfully, the infant survived. In 1905 another Ipswich family was not so fortunate. Six family members became ill, with five being stable enough to be transported to the Colmslie Plague Hospital in Brisbane. The remaining member – a boy – was too sick to be transferred and he died in Ipswich.

Typhoid fever was a particular problem in 1903 as 85 cases were reported, with half the patients being from North Ipswich. The Medical Officer believed the primary cause of the disease was flies and as such, much criticism was levelled at the rubbish tip in Devil’s Gully (Marsden Parade). Two years later there was a severe outbreak of dengue fever and it killed a number of people in the area. Many workplaces were affected and at the Sandy Gallop Asylum the majority of the staff and patients became sick. The fever had an effect on the wider community as many events were cancelled, although the Queensland Eisteddfod was still staged in Ipswich.

In response to disease outbreaks, the medical establishment introduced isolation measures to reduce the impact on the community. Initially a separate ward was set up at the Ipswich Hospital to deal with the high number of scarlet fever cases. This had been a reluctant decision by Dr Thornton who was used to the separate fever hospitals he experienced while working in England. Later on, a scarlet fever hospital opened in Newtown under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health, Dr John Flynn. Neighbouring residents expressed their dissatisfaction with this development on a regular basis. Further expansions occurred in the region as an infectious disease hospital opened next to the Sandy Gallop Asylum in 1914 and two years later an Epidemic Hospital was constructed adjacent to the Ipswich Hospital.

Following the First World War, there was a serious outbreak of Pneumonic Flu that spread across the globe, and Ipswich was not spared. State border patrols slowed its advance and in January and February of 1919 the Ipswich Vice-Regal Band spent time in the Tenterfield quarantine camp following their success at the Sydney national band championships. These border patrols worked well for a few months but in May of 1919 a 28 year old Ipswich ambulance bearer died and soon most of the Ipswich Hospital’s nursing staff was ill. With its short incubation period the flu spread quickly in the community with over 3000 cases reported in four weeks. On May 30, a record number of cases – 288 – were reported and by the time the outbreak had begun to subside in mid-June, 41 people had died. Volunteers assisted the hospital staff during this taxing time and the newspaper kept residents up to date with the impact of the disease, telling the heart-rending stories of those affected.

Infantile paralysis or polio also emerged in the twentieth century with the first reported cases in Queensland occurring in 1905. Ipswich had no cases during that year, but was affected during the outbreak of 1914-1915 when individuals from the Tarampa and Laidley shires were admitted to the Ipswich Hospital. This disease became a bigger problem in later years as state-wide epidemics struck in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. With the epidemic of 1937-1938, Lord Nuffield donated electrically-driven respirators – “the iron lung” – to hospitals in the Commonwealth, and Ipswich Hospital was fortunate to be a recipient. The first two epidemics did not impact greatly on the community, but the third epidemic (1950-52) which caused 100 deaths in Queensland, led to a rise in hospital admissions.

Two sisters, Mavis and Hazel Clarke were among the patients admitted in 1952. After a shopping trip for her sister’s wedding, Mavis became extremely ill the next day and was rushed to the hospital and placed in an iron lung. Hazel followed a couple of days later and was placed in an adjacent machine. The next day Mavis died and though Hazel remained seriously paralysed she survived until 1959 when she passed away from kidney failure. During her years in hospital, Hazel received tremendous support from many people and the Ipswich Red Cross Society donated a machine that allowed Hazel to turn pages of books using her chin.

Throughout these harrowing health epidemics Ipswich was gifted with the aid and goodwill of several modern and wonderful health facilities including the local hospitals of the time. These facilities were able to assist the local and surrounding population of Ipswich areas in getting back on their feet and in improving the health of the community.

Ipswich Hospital, 1920s – Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich