The COVID-19 outbreak of recent months has been more than adequately destructive and frightening, but the influenza epidemic that followed World War 1 was far worse. In South Australia its progress was recorded in an odd way by my grandmother Kathleen Cudmore (1908-2013), the daughter of an Adelaide doctor.
In 1919, just eleven years old, she composed a hand-written newsletter called ‘Stuffed Notes’ [sic. I think because her toys were stuffed animals], about an imaginary hospital which had many cases of Spanish flu. On 14 March 2018 I blogged a transcription of her newsletter. Oddly enough, or perhaps not, the ebb and flow of cases of influenza she recorded in her newsletter follow much the same pattern as South Australian cases as a whole.
Kathleen and her older sister Rosemary about 1919
Looking just at the mentions of Influenza (my transcription retains the original spelling and grammar)
February: There has been one case of influenza which was fatal. But we are glad to say no more cases have been proved influenza.
March: No more cases of Enfluenza have accured.
April: There has been one more case of Influenza. But he is recovering.
May: The are 8 cases of Influenza 2 deaths and 3 dangious cases all the rest are getting better.
June: Five cases of Influenza have accured 1 death and 2 dangirus the other two a getting better the outbreak of Influenza is very bad at present.
July: There are 10 cases of Influenza 3 deaths and 5 dangrous cases. Nurse Wagga is ill with Influenza so Nurse Sambo is taking her place. … Nurse Wagga is is not so very dangious but she is fairly bad.
August: Influenza
Cases = 12
Deaths = 4
Dangious = 3
Mild = 5
Nurse Wagga is quite well now and has gone away for a Holiday a Henly Beach.
We are not removing the Influenza cases to the Isolation Hospital at the Exhibition. As we heard the conditions are not very good.
September: There a five cases of Influenza but they are all recovering.
October: There were no deaths lately and most of the dangerous cases are getting better.
November: No more cases of Influenza have accrued.
Here is a graph of the number of influenza cases in Kathleen’s hospital:
Here is a graph of South Australian influenza cases:
Graph of South Australia influenza notifications, January–December 1919 from Kako, M., Steenkamp, M., Rokkas, P.J., Anikeeva, O. and Arbon, P.A. (2015). Spanish influenza of 1918-19: The extent and spread in South Australia. Australasian Epidemiologist, 22(1) pp. 48-54 Retrieved from the Flinders Academic Commons: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/
I once thought that Kathleen’s “Stuffed Notes” had their origin in dinner-time conversation among the adults of her household, but recently I noticed that in early 1919 her father Dr Cudmore had not yet returned from the War, so the dinner conversation was not based on hospital information at the beginning of the year. Perhaps Kathleen followed Adelaide newspaper reports of the local outbreak.
1919 South Australian newspaper articles mentioning influenza by month (retrieved from Trove.nla.gov.au)
What an interesting story your grandmother wrote as a child and saved. Did she ever talk about it?
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Hi Jeanne, thanks for visiting. My grandmother never mentioned it. Reminiscences from her childhood were more about horses, driving with her father, travelling.
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I couldn’t bring myself to write two years in a row on the 52 stories but I’m writing family stories on the April A to Z this year.
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I am enjoying the 52 ancestors challenge this year. I am not quite sure if I will do the AtoZ challenge this year, a lot of work even though very rewarding.
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This is so wonderful and delightful to read! I love how you visually show how her “Stuffed Notes” aligned with the influenza cases in Australia at the same time.
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Thank you for including this account of influenza in South Australia in 1919. I too have been interested in this topic, as my grandfather, Dr Peter Gorrie was, as the only GP in Port Augusta in 1919, the Medical Officer for Health and for the Transcontinental Railway . Trove has been a wonderful source of information for me.
One example is:
Influenza in Port Augusta
Daily Herald (Adelaide, SA : 1910 – 1924) Wednesday 18 June 1919 p 2 Article
‘KEEP IT DARK’ ‘FLU’ AT PORT AUGUSTA
MANY CASES AND NO REPORT AN EXTRAORDINARY POSITION.
“Keep it dark” may be good advice on some occasions, but in the case of an epidemic of so-called influenza “let there be daylight” would probably be a better slogan.
It is obligatory upon local boards of health to report infectious diseases to the Central Board of Health, and this influenza – or plague – is without doubt an infectious disease. If a local board of health had a lot of cases in its district and “kept it dark” it would surely be an offence, and it is just possible that this offence has been committed in connection with the present epidemic.
In the report issued by the Central Board of Health covering the week up to June 9, there were about 30 places listed from which influenza cases had been reported, but Port Augusta did not appear in the list.
In the report prepared on Monday covering the period from June 9 to June 16, Port Augusta, again did not appear. It would seem, therefore, that as no cases had been reported that town was clean.
A representative of the “Herald” enquired at the Central Board of Health and was definitely told that there had been no cases of “flu” reported from Port Augusta. There had been no reports in the Adelaide press either to the effect that the epidemic was having a busy time at Port Augusta, but on Monday information was received at the “Herald” office to the effect that there had been a large number of cases in the far northern town, as many as 200 it was estimated. It was stated that the local medical officer (Dr. P. Gorrie) had been so seriously ill that it was necessary to obtain medical assistance from the isolation camp which had been established about’ 17 miles out, on the East-West line. It was further stated that there were at
least two deaths due to the epidemic.
If these statements were true it was certainly an extraordinary thing that Port Augusta should have withheld the fact from the public. It seemed to be a matter that should have been investigated by the authorities in the interest of public health. To enable the authorities to make the necessary enquiries the “Herald” withheld the report from yesterday’s issue.
…… another relevant to you other post on quarantine camp in Adelaide:
The Sun (Kalgoorlie WA) Sun 13 April 1919 Influenza
The only perfectly certain way of protecting ourselves from catching cold with its possible complications of pneumonia, consumption and so forth would be to shut ourselves in a room in which the atmosphere was maintained at an even temperature all the time, but as that would be an impracticable way of spending one’s life we take the risk of catching cold with all the awful possibilities.
If Western Australia wishes to ensure itself against the ravages of pneumonic influenza it can do so by cutting off all communication with the outside world, but that is not considered practicable. So we run a certain amount of risk by allowing boats to call at Albany and Fremantle, discharge W.A. troops returning from Europe, and bring passengers and supplies from the Eastern states. To reduce the risk to a minimum quarantine stations are established, at the ports and all sufferers from the disease and those who have been in contact with them are detained for a time. The contacts have to undergo inhalation, nose spraying, gargling, and various means of germ-killing so that they may not become carriers. After a certain time in quarantine they are released and mix freely among the other members of the community. Many of them come to the goldfields. But not a single case of pneumonic influenza has made its appearance in this State, a fact which indicates that the measures that have been taken are quite efficient and effective.
The proposal for the resumption of traffic on the Great Western Railway involves the imposition of conditions even more drastic than those imposed at the coast. The Commonwealth has established a quarantine station 17 miles this side of Port Augusta, the eastern terminus of the Great Western Railway. At this station passengers will be required to undergo detention for seven days. If there is no sign of influenza in that time they come on. At Karonie about 70 miles from Kalgoorlie another quarantine station has been established and if, during the journey, any passenger displays suspicious symptoms the whole train is quarantined here. There are therefore nine days between the contact of passengers with an infected State and their arrival at Karonie which is more than sufficient for our protection. Of course, this avenue of infection could be absolutely closed by stopping all traffic, but if everything is made secure why not have the advantages the transline traffic gives us? We could very effectively guard against indigestion by never eating anything, but is it worth it?
.My grandfather, Dr Peter Gorrie had been responsible for setting up the quarantine camp 17 1/2 miles west of Port Augusta.
… and there is so much more. I noted that information about cases was communicated through telegram.
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Thanks for visiting and adding your interesting comments.
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By the way, are your Young connections with Youngs in Ayrshire, Scotland? Mine are.
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We don’t know where they came from before Liverpool in the 19th century – maybe Ireland, maybe Scotland – Y-DNA seems to indicate Ireland
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