lepercolonies

Gathering outside the Peel Island Lazeret's caretaker cottage, ca. 1913

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Situated in Moreton Bay off Cleveland Point, and now named Teerk Roo Ra (Peel Island) National Park, the island has a unique history. Once a feasting and ceremonial site for the Indigenous people of the area, Peel was also used as a quarantine station in the late 1800s, and a home for inebriates in the early 1900s. From 1907 to 1959, the island functioned as a lazaret, where sufferers of Hansen’s disease (or leprosy) were separated from society and isolated under the Leprosy Act 1892. Now heritage-listed, the island’s historic remains are being preserved and the park is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The John Oxley Library continues to contribute to the preservation of the documentary history of the island. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/50th-anniversary-closing-peel-isl...