The plague, smallpox and Spanish flu: How Sydney quarantined sick travellers throughout history

While Australia's new 14-day self-isolation period for all overseas arrivals might seem drastic, for decades all travellers arriving in the country faced quarantine.

An estimated 13,000 passengers arriving on ships from Europe, Asia or anywhere else to start a new life in Sydney between 1932 until 1984 were sent to the Quarantine Station.

The area, on the harbour's North Head near Manly, was designed to protect Australians from deadly diseases.

The site, which had been home to an Indigenous settlement, originally quarantined convicts before passenger ships started to arrive.

Another 2500 World War One soldiers returning from Europe, who brought the threat of Spanish flu to Australia, were also sent there.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison referred to that episode when he announced the new advice for Australians not to travel on Wednesday.

"We haven't seen this sort of thing in Australia since the end of the First World War," he said.

And while some of those soldiers escaped, desperate to get home, later there was little chance of getting out.

Migrant ships arriving in Sydney with suspected contagious disease stopped inside North Head.

Every ship arriving was boarded by a doctor.

If there was evidence of illness, such as smallpox, cholera or measles on board, the ship would be sent to anchor off the Quarantine Station.

Passengers and luggage would be disembarked and everybody be quarantined for 40 days.

If within that time somebody became sick, the clock would reset and the period would restart.

It was a serious business.

READ MORE: Pandemics throughout history

"No-one was allowed in, no-one was allowed out," Suzanne Stanton, director of heritage-listed luxury hotel and venue The Q Station, which is now on the site, told nine.com.au.

"Even food was brought in and left up at the top, with food and supplies and mail.

"All of the washing was done there.

"It generated its own electricity, its own post office, its own cool meat store, it had all of these things."

The site had its own hospital too, much of which still stands.

Even a huge contraption to fumigate luggage can be seen, as well as showers to clean passengers.

But getting staff to work there, unsurprisingly, could be difficult.

"We've heard some stories about doctors and nurses (who) were actually tricked into coming," Ms Stanton said.

"They'd come up and they couldn't leave.

"After a while there became regular staff and families who lived in cottages.

"If the site was in quarantine, those kids weren't allowed to go into school - most of them went to Manly Public School."

If they'd travelled first class, passengers would have luxury accommodation.

But if they had a third class ticket, they faced life in a dormitory.

The ship's crews would have to continue to take care of passengers.

And while 572 people officially died there, the true figure is likely to be much higher.

Records were not kept in the Asiatic dorms - there was racial segregation too.

While a fascinating wall of inscriptions carved by passengers survived, there are no grave stones.

However, for the people lucky enough not to get sick and die an often painful death without modern medicine, it was almost a holiday.

Playing volleyball and cricket on the lawns overlooking the water were popular ways to pass the time.

Not surprisingly, the site is said to be haunted, with many unexplained events such as the slamming of doors, voices and the appearance of shady figures still reported today.

Nightly ghost tours offer the chance to learn about those souls said to still lurk there, including in the hospital, morgue and grave diggers' cottage.

"There's a little boy who holds female visitors' hands. There's the matron who bosses people around, and there's a Chinese guy who they believed was a miner and he just hated being there," Ms Stanton said.

"And the grave digger - the poor man would have to get up any hour of the day or night and go to the cemetery and dig a hole and ring a bell and they did the burial."

As ships slowed and more people began to travel by air, the Quarantine Station became less vital.

In the 1970s, it housed evacuees from Cyclone Tracey, and Vietnam War orphans.

Between 1950 and 1984, it was used for people who didn't have vaccination certificates or pregnant women emigrating who weren't able to have their vaccinations.

It closed in 1984, lying empty for years, before being transformed into the hotel.

The location which made it so important for isolation is also now what makes it a popular spot for a holiday - though the coronavirus outbreak means bookings are down.

"What we say is that people quarantine themselves from the day-to-day stress of life," Ms Stanton said.

Q Station timeline

1832 - Governor Darling's Quarantine Act set aside the site, which was later used to quarantine convicts 

1837-1984 - Passenger ships arriving in Sydney with an outbreak on board would be quarantined

1900 - Bubonic plague quarantine for Sydney residents, many of whom had never left the city

1913 - Smallpox outbreak in Sydney saw 1000 people quarantined

1918-1919 - Troops coming back from WWI brought the Spanish flu. Around 2500 were quarantined in tents

2006 - Mawland Group took over to create the unique hotel, within Sydney Harbour National Park

Contact journalist Sarah Swain: sswain@nine.com.au