In the last months of 1918, Australia was preparing for an outbreak of a novel influenza. The Commonwealth Government became aware of the new virus in July that year. Locally, it was known as ‘Pneumonic Influenza’ but internationally, it was called the ‘Spanish Influenza’. Spain was mistakenly identified as the origin of the outbreak when the Spanish king fell ill, and reports of his sickness emerged. In reality, pockets of disease were registered at the London Hospital and Aldershot barracks from 1915 onward. The disease first reached epidemic proportions in garrisons throughout the US in 1918. It then travelled with the American troops to France and eventually across Europe.[i]
In November 1918, the federal conference in Melbourne regulated Australia’s response to the looming health-threat. Ships that arrived with an infected person aboard were mass-inoculated and quarantined. The first case on shore was registered in January 1919, in Melbourne. Soon after, the virus spread to Sydney. Anticipating an outbreak, the Australian states gradually closed borders. While trying to curtail the spread, the Commonwealth Government ordered compulsory inoculations of its staff. Some refused to comply.
G.1521/19 Memo. Inoculation of Public Servants Against Influenza. NAA Item 48707
In February 1919, Queensland applied to the Commonwealth Government for a restraining order to prevent returning troops from landing at a mainland quarantine station. Nevertheless, on 4 February, 260 soldiers landed and were quarantined at Lytton. Four soldiers broke quarantine that very night.[i]
The disease was extraordinarily virulent, with a mortality rate of 2.5% among the infected. There were reports of people seeming healthy in the morning and dead by evening. It was more common for the illness to last 10 days followed by weeks of prolonged recovery. A range of sources all described the early signs of infection as ‘a chill or shivering, followed by headache and back pain. Eventually, an acute muscle pain would overcome the sufferer, accompanied by some combination of vomiting, diarrhoea, watering eyes, a running or bleeding nose, a sore throat and a dry cough.’[ii] Cyanosis, a bluish tinge to the skin, was a tell-tale sign of this infection. The flu, or grippe, infected roughly 2 million Australians in a population of about 5 million.
Despite a range of preventative actions, widespread infection and quarantine measures lead to significant food and medical supplies shortages. Brisbane saw its water supply installation interrupted (every link in the work chain broke down because of the virus). Telephone exchange was disrupted, telegraph, postal services, banks and gas supply.[iii]
Annual reports presented by Police Commissioner Urquhart to the Parliament indicated Queensland police resources were stretched. Although the department nearly caught up with the personnel shortages following the war, there were still not enough officers ‘to meet requirements and carry a full 8-hour day’.[iv] Commissioner Urquhart attributed it to the stress and strain ‘due to the requirements of the Border Patrol during the Influenza Epidemic and the prevalence of industrial troubles in the state, as large groups of men had to be deployed at various localities’.[v] Wallangarra, Goondiwindi, Killarney and Stanthorpe were among key border entry points, with Wompah, Hungerford, Wooroorooka and Hebel added later.
H. Rickard. ‘Women on the bridge photographed with an official. A tent is erected probably during the influenza epidemic. Restrictions due to the epidemic hampered interstate trade.’ JOL 194297.
During one of these patrols, Constable George Ruming (Reg No 1217) was seriously injured on duty. Constable Ruming was ‘patrolling the borders to enforce the quarantine regulations in the vicinity of Hungerford, when his horse fell and he was badly hurt, being knocked unconscious.’ [vi] He resigned from duty in October.
Between March and June 1919, 16 men were charged with breaching Pneumonic Influenza Regulations with fines ranging from £2 to £20.[vii] Most men charged were locals with the addition of two sailors from British Columbia, Canada.
An outbreak among the police stationed in Petrie Terrace and Roma Street barracks in Brisbane followed in mid-May 1919. In Petrie Terrace 25 out of 44 policemen had to be hospitalised and 20 out of 117 men got sick in Roma Street.[viii] The total strength of ordinary constables in Brisbane stood at 269. This means a third of that number, or approximately 90 constables, would have been available for the round-the-clock 8-hour-shift to police a population of 190,000. A loss of nearly 50 men to infection would have been an extraordinary strain on the department.
Constable Michael Joseph Flynn (Reg No 988; 2231), who was stationed at Petrie Terrace depot when he got sick, was the first police officer to die from influenza. He died few days after hospitalisation at the Isolation Hospital set up in the Exhibition Grounds. Constable Flynn’s family was also hospitalised, a week earlier. Michael’s wife, Mary Beatrice, succumbed to the disease soon after being admitted, on 12 May. One of their two children was reported to be in critical condition.[ix] Mary Agnes was 4-years-old at the time and Michael was 6. They both survived the infection.[x]
Page 25 of the Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to The Queenslander, 1 March 1919. JOL Image number: 702692-19190301-0025
The following month, on 10 June, Constable Herbert James Kelly (Reg No 863; 710) also married with two children, died from influenza in Roma.[i] Both constables were Queenslanders and long-serving policemen.
On 11 June Acting Sergeant Hennessy and Constable Muir of Toowoomba Police Station were taken to the hospital suffering from influenza.[ii] They both recovered. The total death toll for the force was two officers, Constables Flynn and Kelly.
The same week, on 14 June 1919, Dr Clark inoculated the Cairns police contingent,[iii] most likely with little effect, as agreed-upon standards for vaccines were still lacking.[iv] However, if nothing else, these vaccination attempts helped ‘to deconstruct existing biomedical knowledge’ which undoubtedly aided epidemiological advances that benefit us today.[v] In 1997, the 1918 pneumonic influenza was identified as the H1N1 Influenza A of swine and human subgroup. It is now part of a routine vaccination programme.[vi]
[i] Oxford, JS (2000), ‘Influenza A pandemics of the 20th century with special reference to 1918: virology, pathology and epidemiology’, Reviews in Medical Virology, Vol 10, pp. 120-21.
[i] ‘In the Country. Reports from Various Centres’, Brisbane Courier, 11 June 1919, p.10.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] ‘Influenza. Inoculation of Police’. Cairns Post, 14 Jun 1919, p. 5.
[iv] Eyler, John M (2010). ‘The State of Science, Microbiology, and Vaccines Circa 1918’, Public Health Reports, Supplement 3, Vol 125, p. 33.
[v] Ibid., p. 35.
[vi] Taubenberger, J., Reid, A., Krafft, A., Bijwaard, K., & Fanning, T (1997). ‘Initial Genetic Characterization of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus.’ Science, 275(5307), 1793-1796.
[i] Hodgeson, Patrick G (2017). Flu, Society and the state: the political, social and economic implications of the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic in Queensland. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/52042/1/52042-hodgson-2017-thesis.pdf, p. 122.
[ii] Bongiorno, Frank (2020). ‘How Australia’s response to the Spanish flu of 1919 sounds warnings on dealing with coronavirus.’ The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-australias-response-to-the-spanish-flu-of-1919-sounds-warnings-on-dealing-with-coronavirus-134017
[iii] Ibid., p. 254.
[iv] Annual Report by the Commissioner of Police, 1919, p. 1.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] ‘Mishap to a Patrol’, Darling Downs Gazette, 19 Mar 1919, p. 5.
[vii] Queensland Police Gazette, January-December 1919.
[viii] Annual Report by the Commissioner of Police, 1919, p.
[ix] ‘Influenza. Death of Police Constable. Whole Family Affected.’ Telegraph, 17 May 1919, p. 7; Mary Flynn 1919/B/29369
[x] Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages 1915/C/7337; 1913/B/33522
The article was researched and written by Dr Anastasia Dukova. The Queensland Police Museum is currently closed due to COVID19, with staff working remotely by email and phone. When reopened, hours of operation will be 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month. QPM is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact by email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
‘FROM the VAULT – Queensland Police and Pneumonic Influenza, 1919’ by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode