With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe, many comparisons have been made with the Spanish Flu, the most deadly flu pandemic in history, killing between 20 and 40 million people. The Manning Valley Historical Society has given us a local perspective on the Spanish Flu.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Spanish Flue pandemic of 1918 and 1919 had a devastating impact on the world population, leaving more casualties in its wake than the Great War.
The Northern Champion, Manning River Times and Wingham Chronicle kept the people of the Manning Valley informed of the pandemic's progress around the world and in Australia.
RELATED: Virus-afflicted 2020 looks like 1918
The first cases in the district were reported in the Northern Champion (a Taree newspaper) in February 1919. Returned soldiers Oscar Latimore, (Upper Manning River) and Corporal Ede (Strathcedar), had been holidaying in Sydney and were staying in the Exchange Hotel in Taree when they fell ill.
The two men were admitted to the isolation ward of MRD Hospital in Taree and the government medical officer imposed strict quarantine sanctions, closing the hotel and confining hotel residents to the premises.
Local organisations were galvanised into action. Vaccine depots were set up in Wingham, Tinonee, Cundletown Coopernook, Croki, Harrington, Forster and Tuncurry as well as the MRD Hospital.
Buildings in the Taree and Wingham Showgrounds were turned into emergency hospitals equipped by the local branches of the Red Cross who canvassed the district for extra bedding, equipment and supplies.
Matron Mabel Ricketts offered to train voluntary aid nurses in bed making, taking temperatures, applying poultices and assisting nurses in the care of patients in the MRD Hospital and the community.
The first deaths were reported in the Wingham Chronicle in the April 15, 1919 edition. They were Mrs JW Walker of Dingo Creek and her son, William Walker.
It was the nurses and voluntary aids who took the brunt of the epidemic with many falling ill with the dreaded disease.
"It was only by the grit and devotion to duty of the nursing staff aided by volunteers, that we were able to cope with this pestilence," the Medical Officers' Report for 1919 surmised.
The pandemic also had an effect on the Aboriginal community. It was reported that two men, both of whom had been very ill, were being conveyed from above Wingham to the emergency hospital at Taree. One of them, Rush, died on the way. The other man, Donohue, died the next day.
Harry Combo, a well-known Aboriginal stockman from Wingham, was also admitted with the disease.
By June, the epidemic had reached Purfleet Mission Station. Practically the entire settlement was infected, including many of the children. Between June 10 and July 22 funerals were conducted for six Indigenous people.
By June, the second wave of the pandemic hit the district. Taree reported more than 100 cases in town, four regarded as critical. Practically all the nurses at the MRD Hospital were being treated for the disease and the emergency hospital at the Showground was closed as there were not enough nurses to staff it.
Towards the end of July, the Northern Champion reported that the influenza epidemic had lessened significantly in Taree and was improving in Wingham, Cundletown and Coopernook. By September, the epidemic had subsided in the Manning Valley.
Final statistics
The number of patients treated at Wingham Showground were 60 with five deaths; Taree Showground, 23 admissions with two deaths; and patients treated at Taree VAD Depot, 355 admissions with five deaths.
These figures do not include MRD Hospital admissions or the number of people who were nursed privately in their homes.
The Medical Officers' Report presented at the MRD Hospital's AGM in January 1920 stated there were 598 admissions for 1919 with 37 deaths for that year, compared to 483 admissions for 1918 with 21 deaths. The increase in admissions and deaths from the previous year was due to the pandemic.
