leprosy

In the 1850s, Chinese miners who flocked to the goldfields brought with them the bacterial disease, leprosy, which then quickly transferred to the Aborigines and South Sea Islanders who had little natural immunity to the disease. Today, the disease is known as Hansen’s Disease (after Armauer Hansen, a Norwegian who discovered the bacteria that cause it). Back then, the disease was believed to be highly contagious with no known cure; by the 1890s sufficient Europeans had also contracted the disease to force the government to pass the Leprosy Act of 1892. This made leprosy a notifiable disease and forced those who contracted the disease to be sent to designated lazarets, or leper colonies, for treatment isolated from the general community. And, because there was no known cure, such internment was probably going to be a lifetime sentence. By 1907, the inmates of Queensland’s several lazarets were all sent to a new one at Peel Island. Leprosy sufferers were often isolated from their families, with little, if any opportunity to say goodbye. When they arrived at the island they found themselves part of a multicultural community consisting of South Sea Islanders, Aborigines, Chinese, Europeans, and Queensland-born whites. There they were housed in four compounds: white males, white females, coloured males, and coloured females. During the day, patients were free to roam the island but had to return to their compounds at night. The coloureds shared galvanised iron huts, however, the whites fared slightly better, having a wooden cabin each. White women also had a wood stove and kitchen in their huts and were encouraged to cook for themselves. The men, though, dined in the communal dining hut. They weren’t formally ‘prisoners’, however, leprosy patients were not allowed to leave the island apart from being permitted to fish on the island’s reefs, and indeed fishing was one of their main forms of recreation. Other activities included cricket or tennis, billiards, reading, listening to the radio, gardening, and attending concerts and church services. Source: www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/3/20/the-lazaret-at-p...

My father (AJ Dietzel) was Superintendent of Shantipur Hospital and member of British Mission to Lepers 1948-1953. Dietzel and 5 boys pose for the camera in 1952. Boys pictured would NOT have been leprous, but would’ve been healthy children of patients. In 1950, Dietzel started school and hostel for the children; in addition to adding spinning and weaving to vocational training for patients, and rice fields. (In 1921, British bought 120 acres, built buildings for Shantipur Leper Home, and staffed it via USA Board of Missions.)

Thank you for the clarification.

Teerk Roo Ra, place of many shells by Peter Ludlow In the 1850s, Chinese miners who flocked to the goldfields brought with them the bacterial disease, leprosy, which then quickly transferred to the Aborigines and South Sea Islanders who had little natural immunity to the disease. Today, the disease is known as Hansen’s Disease (after Armauer Hansen, a Norwegian who discovered the bacteria that cause it). Peel Island is located off the coast of Queensland in Australia. In 1907 the island was designated as a quarantined hospital for those with leprosy - a so called 'lazaret'. Hundreds from the mainland were sent there in exile for a life sentence, with over half dying in isolation. Leprosy sufferers were often isolated from their families, with little, if any opportunity to say goodbye. When they arrived at the island they found themselves part of a multicultural community consisting of South Sea Islanders, Aborigines, Chinese, Europeans, and Queensland-born whites. There they were housed in four compounds: white males, white females, coloured males, and coloured females. In 1993, the lazaret was declared a heritage site, and the rest of the island a national park, however, a native title claim prevented the gazetting of the island as such. This was resolved in December 2007 when Peel was gazetted as Teerk Roo Ra (Place of Many Shells), a national park and a conservation park, jointly managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the island’s traditional owners, the Quandamooka People. Today, Teerk Roo Ra remains a popular destination for boaties who visit Horseshoe Bay to enjoy its isolation for a day before returning home to the mainland at night – a simple privilege which no leprosy patient ever had. Source: www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/3/20/the-lazaret-at-p...

Eliodoro Donato Mercado (1866-1933) was an expert on leprosy in the Philippines. archive.org/details/adr1042.0001.001.umich.edu

Thanks for your research pennylrichardsca. We'll fill in the name and the title of his book the next time we update the record.