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Patient zero: First outbreak

Disease devastates Aboriginal communities in 1789

鈥淎boriginal people had a name for it... they called it 鈥楧evil Devil鈥...鈥

In 1789, a disease tore through Aboriginal communities around Sydney Cove, or Warrane, leaving dead bodies floating in the harbour, and scattered along the shorelines. The evidence points to this being smallpox, but there鈥檚 still debate
over how it got to Australia. Was it an accidental import with the arrival of European ships? Did it come from trading with other peoples in the region? Or was it deliberately introduced as a form of germ warfare?

In this episode, Olivia Willis and Nakari Thorpe ask Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about this catastrophic moment in their history, and hear how their ancestors survived a cocktail of diseases they鈥檇 never before encountered.

Producers: Jane Lee, Cheyne Anderson
Senior Producer: Carl Smith
Executive Producer: Joel Werner
Sound Design: Tim Jenkins

Patient Zero is a production of ABC Science, Radio National, and the 成人快手 World Service

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 7 Jun 2021 00:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 31 May 2021 19:32GMT
  • Tue 1 Jun 2021 03:32GMT
  • Tue 1 Jun 2021 04:32GMT
  • Tue 1 Jun 2021 08:32GMT
  • Tue 1 Jun 2021 12:32GMT
  • Mon 7 Jun 2021 00:32GMT

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