Blacktown 100 years ago - the influenza pandemic
by John Horne
In October Blacktown City , like the rest of Sydney , finished 100 days of COVID lockdown . With many new COVID infections during that time , Blacktown was one of many ‘ hotspots ’ in the Greater Sydney Area . Now it has earned a new status because its citizens have achieved a really high percentage rate of double dose COVID-19 vaccinations .
One hundred years ago Blacktown was quite a different place to what it is today . A small , country town kilometres away from large population centres like Parramatta and Sydney , it stood in the middle of the Blacktown Shire that stretched from just near Parramatta westwards to St Marys .
The village of Blacktown itself had a hotel , blacksmith , wheelwright , butcher ’ s shop , general store , newsagent , post office , bakery , School of Arts , Church of England , Roman Catholic Church , a few cottages and houses and a public school . The Shire Council had its offices in Flushcombe Road like the council still does today .
From the end of 1918 until 1921 the people of Blacktown Shire faced the influenza pandemic or Spanish Flu , introduced into Australia by returning soldiers from the Great War ( 1914-1918 ). Like today there were lockdowns with returning soldiers quarantined and kept apart from the locals plus the federal structure of Australia was ignored as states closed their borders .
Many New South Welshmen thought that Victoria was responsible for allowing the infection to spread to the rest of Australia . Blacktown Shire Council dealt with a motion by one of its councillors
Workers at a Local Sawmill , Blacktown Shire proposing that New South Wales should break away from the Australian Federation and become independent because of what was called “ The Influenza Crime ” foisted upon New South Wales by the slow to react Australian and Victorian Governments .
Around 12,000 Australians died during the pandemic . Herbert Arthur Sheridan , aged 33 , the railway gatekeeper at Doonside , was one of the victims . He died only seven days after he caught pneumonic influenza in June , 1919 .
The Railways Department generously appointed his wife , Euphemia Palmeria , aka Joan , Sheridan to be his replacement , allowing her to continue to live in the gatekeeper ’ s cottage and saving her family from destitution .
Another person from Plumpton passed away after contracting pneumonic influenza . All up , 44 people caught pneumonic influenza in 1919 in Blacktown Shire but only two died .
Soldiers and sailors from Blacktown Shire who caught influenza with fatal results during their war service were Lieutenant Frederick Charles Markham Mills , whose name is on the Blacktown Soldiers ’ Memorial outside the Blacktown RSL . He was a pilot in the Australian Flying Corps who died in a Paris Hospital on 18 December 1918 from Spanish Flu .
Clive Aubrey Phillip , Royal Australian Navy , from Riverstone , was hospitalised with influenza and died in Campsie on 27 June 1919 . He was a wireless operator who had served on HMAS Sydney , HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Parramatta before his death .
Being met by a band at Riverstone
Station was the usual practice for returning soldiers , but when Private Ernest Martin returned to Riverstone in August 1919 there was no band playing at the station to greet him , because all the band members had influenza .
When the influenza outbreak began , people in the Shire of Blacktown were encouraged to take every precaution to keep their premises spotless to avoid the risk of infection . Medical authorities were
Medical staff ; The Pneumonic Influenza Pandemic , Australia 1919-21 .
also worried by another infectious disease , diphtheria .
A vaccination clinic was set up in Blacktown in January 1919 to immunise people against diphtheria , which was a bacteriological illness . One of its symptoms caused the individual ’ s throat to become swollen and they could choke to death . Four thousand and seventy three Australian children died from diphtheria between 1926 and 1935 .
Many of the precautions from 1919 sound remarkably similar to those that we had to follow recently - no church services or public auctions and picture theatres were closed . There were heavy penalties for not wearing a mask .
The Nepean Times from 8 February 1919 reported , “ Do not leave your mask at home . A number of local people have to appear before the Police Magistrate for neglecting to be covered . Do not remove them to have a smoke .” Times have changed ! People were allowed to be unmasked in a public park when not congregated together in parties of more than three , or if everyone was from the same family . Open air tennis and cricket were permitted . Masks were not needed if you were horse riding or in your own vehicle .
Like today , patients were isolated when they caught pneumonic influenza and the State Government opened Emergency Depots , where doctors and
nurses were available to treat influenza victims . For a short period there was one in Blacktown but it only operated in April and May 1919 .
Post that closure the nearest depot was in Auburn . An ambulance transported serious cases to a depot or a nurse was sent to treat patients in their home . Sometimes a doctor from Parramatta was called and he would travel to visit the serious cases in Blacktown , even when the patient could not afford to pay his fee .
In September 1919 Dr Gordon Herbert Bennett , Blacktown ’ s first doctor , began treating patients at his practice in Wallace Street , meaning serious cases did not have to wait for help from Parramatta or Auburn . Also during 1919 Sister May Julia Holmes ( nee Loveland ) and her first husband began living in Blacktown . Sister Holmes was Blacktown ’ s first district nurse who rode around the area with her horse and buggy to visit the sick .
She opened the first hospital , Hillview , in Blacktown in 1922 . It was on the corner of Bruce and Oxford Streets .
Sister Holmes was registered to perform midwifery and general nursing and Dr Bennett attended many of the patients in her private hospital . Later when she remarried she became known as Sister Rawlings .
The 1918-1921 influenza pandemic has been wiped out now , as we all hope COVID-19 will be in the future .
and District Historical Society Incorporated
Founded in 1976 to ensure that the history of the Blacktown area would be collected and conserved for all time by tapping into documents and people ’ s memories .
You are welcome to visit our Research Centre , open Tuesdays 10.00 am to 2.00pm , or by appointment .
Grantham Heritage Park BDHS Research Centre 71 Seven Hills Road South , Seven Hills NSW 2147 PO Box 500 Blacktown NSW 2148 Phone 02 9676 1198 www . blacktownhistory . org . au
10 ISSUE 09 // DECEMBER 2021 theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT