Up to 220,000 Indigenous Australians died following early outbreak, study finds
As many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians were killed by a devastating smallpox outbreak triggered by the arrival of the First Fleet, a new study has found.
Researchers at Flinders University said that computer modelling traces the devastating epidemic to the British ships that arrived at Sydney Cove in 1789, contradicting long-standing debates about the origin of the disease.
New computer modelling has revealed that as many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians died in a devastating 1789 smallpox outbreak that originated in Sydney. Flinders University
Shortly after the fleet’s arrival, the virus swept rapidly through First Nations communities in the Sydney basin before radiating across the continent’s east.
Researchers found the outbreak triggered a demographic collapse, which they say altered the course of Australian history.
The study found the epidemic severely crippled the capacity of First Nations people to resist British colonisation and disrupted their ability to manage Country, creating generational trauma that the study notes is still being felt today.
Research Associate in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures Dr Cody Nitschke said it is important for Australians to learn and recognise the “traumatic legacy”.
“The epidemic was likely limited to the south-eastern coastal regions of Australia and along major intersecting rivers such as the Murray and Lachlan Rivers.
“Assuming a 60 per cent lethality, the loss of between 40,000 and 220,000 people would probably have occurred in these regions,” Nitschke said.
Smallpox caused fever, severe illness, scarring, and high death rates, especially in the populations that had never been exposed to it.
The disease followed coastlines and major rivers. However, it did not spread nationwide.
Dr Cody Nitschke said it is important that Australians recognise the devastating impact the outbreak had on Indigenous Australian people. Scimex
The study also looked at whether the epidemic began following visits by the Makassans in Australia’s north who arrived from south-east Asia or Europeans on the First Fleet.
“Rather than relying on assumptions about where the epidemic started, we tested the two main origin stories directly,” Nitschke said.
“The data allowed us to weigh those explanations against each other and identify which one was most consistent with how the disease spreads.
Nitschke said the model found that smallpox was “extremely unlikely” to have reached Sydney if introduced from the Makassans, who travelled to the continent’s north.
Professor Corey Bradshaw from Flinders University called the outbreak “one of the most devastating events resulting from colonial invasion”.
“Families, knowledge systems, and ways of caring for Country were badly damaged, and the effects are still felt today.
“This devastating epidemic was concentrated and likely unfolded over many years.
“Elders, children, and pregnant women were especially vulnerable, meaning that knowledge, language, and culture suffered deep harm alongside population loss.
“Even survivors were severely compromised, and could often not care for Country in the same way as before the infection”, Professor Bradshaw said.
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