Peel Island (
Indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
,
Janday: ''Teerk Roo Ra'', also and more phonetically spelled 'Jercuruba' or 'Jercroobai' ) is a small
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
island located in
Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
, east of
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, in
South East Queensland
South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...
, Australia. The island is a
locality
Locality may refer to:
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...
within the
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
of
Redland City
Redland City, better known as the Redlands and formerly known as Redland Shire, is a Local government in Australia, local government area and a part of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland. With a population of 156,863 in Jun ...
and a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
. In the , Peel Island had a population of 0 people.
The island is only accessible by watercraft. Dugongs, turtles, and dolphins frequent the waters around the island. There are often thousands of jellyfish following the surrounding currents, and sharks are known to inhabit these waters. Horseshoe Bay, with its sandy beach, is popular with boating visitors. It is a common overnight anchorage for sailors, considered by many to be the best shelter from northerly winds in Moreton Bay. Sea kayakers also use the island for overnight stays. The island is known for its natural environment, with bird and animal life largely undisturbed by pollution. Up to 74 bird species have been identified.
The isolation and limited access to Peel Island has meant that many of the original lazaret buildings still stand in original condition to this day.
Access is restricted in an effort to preserve the historic remains. As a result, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has managed the park since 1992, during which time they have restored a number of key structures, and have worked to make the island a safe place for future visitors.
Geography
![ISS059-E-13426 - View of Queensland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/ISS059-E-13426_-_View_of_Queensland.jpg)
Peel Island is situated in the southern half of Moreton Bay on the east coast of Australia, approximately from Brisbane, Queensland, and from the town of Cleveland. The island lies between Cleveland Point and Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island and is fringed with mudflats, seagrass, coral reefs and mangroves. The island covers an area of approximately , and extends for north to south and east to west. Horseshoe Bay, running in an unbroken arc along the southern side of the island, provides clean, sheltered waters for swimming.
The northern tip is known as Cucumber Point.
A headland to the south-east is known as The Bluff.
The Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef has been constructed to the north of Peel Island, off of Amity Banks. It was established in 1975. More closer in the west is another artificial reef, known as West Peel Artificial Reef. Peel Island has been part of a declared fish habitat zone since 1971.
History
During the mid-19th century, Peel Island was used as a
quarantine station
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
for the colony of Brisbane. Sailing ships would anchor to the north of the island, and the passengers would disembark on Peel Island for a quarantine period before moving on to
Dunwich
Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast.
In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was t ...
on nearby
North Stradbroke Island
North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was onl ...
. The arriving sailing ships would be fumigated and scrubbed down with
carbolic to sanitise them before they ventured on to Brisbane with the new arrivals. Remains of the old quarantine station are at the southwest corner of the island, where the old well can be found.
Peel Island was used as an
asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
for vagrants from Brisbane around the start of the 20th century, but the conditions were too harsh and the inmates were moved to Dunwich, on nearby Stradbroke Island. Peel Island was also used as a
sisal
Sisal (, ) (''Agave sisalana'') is a species of flowering plant native to southern Mexico, but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff fibre used in making rope and various other products. The term sisal ma ...
farm. The inmates would harvest the sisal and manufacture rope which was sold to help fund the asylum. Remnants of the sisal plantations are still visible when walking around the western side of the island.
Between 1907 and 1959 the island was a
leper colony
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
.
In 2007, the island was declared as Teerk Roo Ra National Park and Conservation Park.
There are limited facilities in Peel Island; however, there is a toilet block. Tracks which were used when the island was a leper colony can now be used to walk across the island. The leper colony's housing is currently being restored, possibly for school camps, but there is
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
in some of the housing used for
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
housed there. After the island was decommissioned as a leper colony, it was discovered that the strain of
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
which infected its inhabitants was non-contagious.
Peel Island Lazaret
Peel Island operated as a
lazaret
A lazaretto or lazaret (from it, lazzaretto a diminutive form of the Italian word for beggar cf. lazzaro) is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. ...
from 1907 to 1959.
The Peel Island lazaret, or
leprosarium
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
,
is important to Queensland history because of its social and political significance in terms of state health policy, serving as a reminder of the conditions in which people lived and worked on the island.
Background
The lazaret (lazaretto, leper colony or leprosaria) in Queensland was established to isolate those infected with leprosy.
The influx of
migrants to Queensland after
free settlement
Special settlements in the Soviet Union were the result of population transfers and were performed in a series of operations organized according to social class or nationality of the deported. Resettling of "enemy classes" such as prosperous ...
brought leprosy, or
Hansen's disease
Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless and Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southern California, originally selling juice ...
, to Australia.
Hansen's disease has had a history of forced patient isolation from society, and Queensland's Leprosy Act of 1892 was an example of legislation intended to isolate leprosy patients from the mainland.
![Peel island caretaker cottage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Peel_island_caretaker_cottage.jpg)
Before Peel Island was used as a lazaret in 1907, it was used for a number of other purposes by colonial and Queensland governments, as well as being occupied by
Aboriginal people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
.
[ Before British colonial settlement in Australia, Indigenous people lived on Peel Island, with the land used as a ]feasting
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...
and ceremonial
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin ''Glossary of ancient Rom ...
site. Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
studies show evidence of Indigenous occupancy through the presence of several midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
sites. Into the 1800s, Peel Island, as well as North Stradbroke Island
North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was onl ...
, was used as a quarantine station
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
by the New South Wales colonial government which "housed persons considered unsuitable for mainstream society". Subsequently, the quarantine station developed into an inebriates' asylum, and then later a lazaret in 1907.[ There were already two established lazarets in Queensland: one on Friday Island and another on Dunwich, North Stradbroke Island. Both were closed due to varied criticism of conditions and treatment of patients. Subsequently, the Peel Island lazaret was established as a replacement.][Blake, Thom. 'The leper shall dwell alone: A history of Peel Island lazaret'. ''Brisbane: Moreton Bay Matters''. 19. (2002): 72–86. Print.][O’Brien, Anne. 'All Creatures of the Living God: Religion and Leprosy in Turn of the Century Queensland'. ''History Australia''. 5.2 (2008). 40.1–40.16. Print.] Peel Island was used for multiple purposes at any given time by the government, but was specifically chosen over North Stradbroke Island to permanently establish the lazaret.[
]
Conditions
Particularly under earlier operations of the lazaret, the isolation of Peel Island more resembled incarceration
Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
than that of a medical institution for ill patients. In many instances, sufferers were removed from their families and communities without notice or an opportunity to say goodbye.[Allam, Laura]
You'll Have to Go Away: The Leprosarium on Peel Island
." ''Hindsight''. ABC. 5 September 2010. Web. 25 September 2013. Patients were often locked up or chained by police before they were taken to the lazaret. There have been several accounts of patients being trawled behind a charter ship, isolated on a dinghy en route to the island.[ Once, at the facility, patients sought help from the outside community and the press in order to improve the dreadful conditions to which they were subjected. Because the lazaret was designed around the principle of isolation, each patient was housed in a separate hut, then grouped into three ]compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
s according to gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
, race and severity of illness.[ Each compound was surrounded by -tall wired fences which would be locked at night so as to prevent perceived "illicit behaviour" between the patients.][
In a standard hut, each patient was supplied with a bed, ]chest of drawers
A chest of drawers, also called (especially in North American English) a dresser or a bureau, is a type of cabinet (a piece of furniture) that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers generally stacked one above another.
In American English a ...
, table and chair.[ In the lazaret's later years of operation, ]awnings
An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tig ...
were also added to the huts to protect the patients from the elements. Other lazaret buildings on the island included a kitchen, dining room, bathhouses, nurses’ cottages
A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...
, attendants’ quarters and caretakers’ residences.[‘Peel Island Lazaret Timeline’, UQFL, Rosemary Opala Collection, n.d., Box 11, Folder 13, Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library.] For many years it was prohibited to remove the bodies of patients who had died on the island, making it necessary for them to be buried there.[
To this day, the site has been preserved and remains a confronting reminder of the conditions of the lazaret.][
]
Life
Boredom
In conventional usage, boredom, ennui, or tedium is an emotional and occasionally psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occu ...
was a real issue for patients on Peel Island. Whilst staff could freely leave the island, patients were confined there – often for many years – without a release date. Patients, mostly men, would often go fishing or do some gardening to pass the days.[ Most patients had wireless radio sets, and in the later years of the lazaret, films were shown and dances were organised for both staff and patients.][ Many of these ]social event
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
s led to marriages over the years. Staff would often spend time at Horseshoe Bay, enjoying the beach and serenity away from the centre of the lazaret.
Due to the isolation and oft-substandard living conditions, many patients and staff members enjoyed drinking
Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among o ...
. By the 1950s, the island's occupants had built a reputation among the wider mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
community for their alcohol consumption and intoxicated behaviour.
Although the Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...
was unwavering in its policy of isolating Hansen disease sufferers on Peel Island, issues often arose due to lack of adequate funding
Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...
. Problems such as poor food supplies, inadequate medical treatment
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...
and lack of maintenance only increased the sense of deprivation
Deprivation or deprive may refer to:
* Poverty, pronounced deprivation in well-being
** Objective deprivation or poverty threshold, the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country
** Relative deprivation, the lack of resources ...
among patients, as well as staff.[ The ]Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
Church of the Good Samaritan was built in the north-eastern corner of the lazaret in 1908, originally for primary use by Melanesian
Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to:
* Melanesians
* Melanesian mythology
* Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...
patients; it subsequently closed.[
In 1925, the island's first multi-purpose ]medical facility
A health facility is, in general, any location where healthcare is provided. Health facilities range from small clinics and doctor's offices to urgent care centers and large hospitals with elaborate emergency rooms and trauma centers. The num ...
was built, and the first hospital building followed in 1937. It was not until 20 years after the opening of the lazaret on Peel Island that the first medical treatment building (a surgery) was erected, and electricity was not available on the island until 1948 – 17 years after it was available on the mainland.
Racial discrimination
There were dramatic disparities between the treatment of non-white patients ( Aboriginals, Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped ...
, South Sea Islanders
South Sea Islanders are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands and New Ireland (island), New Ire ...
and Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
) and white European patients.[ When leprosy re-emerged in the ]colonised
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
world, it was viewed as an imperial disease associated with race. This was reflective of the social attitudes of the time.[
After much criticism of the conditions in former lazarets on both Friday Island (which held Indigenous Australians and South Seas Islanders) and ]Dunwich Benevolent Asylum
The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum was a Benevolent Asylum for the aged, infirm and destitute operated by the Queensland Government in Australia. It was located at Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay and operated from 1865 to 1946.
His ...
(which held white Europeans), the opening of the new lazaret on Peel Island held both white and non-white leprosy patients for the first time in Queensland.[ This close proximity of ]inter-racial
Interracial topics include:
* Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races
** Interracial marriage in the United States
*** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident
* Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...
patients highlighted the inequality in patient care.[
The lazaret was divided into compounds which separated white and non-white patients.][ The accommodation and facilities for non-white patients were far less-equipped than those provided for white patients.][ For the first three years, non-white patients were not provided with any cooking or washing facilities, and their huts were of a far lower standard than those provided to white patients.][ Non-white patients had to carry their own firewood and water, while white patients had theirs provided for them.][ At an inquiry into the complaints of patients in 1908, the caretaker of Peel Island highlighted various disparities in the distribution of ]rations
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
. He stated "half the amount of meat, butter and tobacco allocated to whites was given to coloureds. Unlike the whites, coloured patients were not allocated beer or tapioca."[ Many non-white patients lived in tents until their huts were constructed. In the early years of the lazaret, the huts in the non-white compound were made of ]corrugated iron
Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...
, with corrugated iron roofs and walls. Windows were made by cutting the wall with tinsnips. At first, the floor was merely the existing dirt, which would turn to mud in the rain as there were cracks in the roofs. The floors were later covered in cement.[ Each hut also often housed two patients, although only built and designed for one. These living conditions were extremely harsh, leaving many non-white patients sick, and it is argued that this had a direct effect on their higher death rate on the island.][
At the beginning of ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, resources for the number of patients on the island became limited. As a result, in 1940 all 50 non-white patients detained on Peel Island were sent to Fantome Island
Fantome Island is one of the islands in the Palm Island group. It is neighboured by Great Palm Island and is north-east of Townsville, Queensland on the east coast of Australia. The island is small with an area of and is surrounded by a fri ...
. By 1945, 40 of the patients had died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
leaving further speculation as to the treatment of the patients.[ Authorities recognised the segregation between the basic standard of housing and treatment provided to white versus non-white patients as early as 1912. However, it was not until much later in the operation of the lazaret that these conditions were revised and consequently improved.][
]
Patients and staff
When the lazaret first opened in 1907 there were 71 patients – 26 transferred from North Stradbroke Island, 30 from Friday Island, and 15 arriving later from Cooktown
Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...
, Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and Halifax.[ Over the 52 years that Peel Island was an operating lazaret, over 500 patients passed through its doors. Nearly 200 of these died, while others went into remission and eventually left the island. In some instances, the disease reoccurred, which meant patients had to return to the island, sometimes even for a third or fourth time.][
Understandably, patients on Peel Island did not agree with the isolation "treatment" policy, and spoke up against the idea. In 1926, 35 patients petitioned to the Premier of Queensland to ]repeal
A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...
existing legislation. A section of the petition stated: "There are patients who would astound you by their fine healthy appearance, still they are held in segregation by the cruel and unjust law in existence."[ It would be another 33 years until the lazaret on Peel Island closed, and patients could return to their communities.
For many of the 52 years that Peel Island was an operating lazaret, it was inadequately staffed. Due to the ]social stigma
Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, rac ...
associated with Hansen's disease, and the perception that it was highly contagious
Contagious may refer to:
* Contagious disease
Literature
* Contagious (magazine), a marketing publication
* ''Contagious'' (novel), a science fiction thriller novel by Scott Sigler
Music
Albums
*''Contagious'' (Peggy Scott-Adams album), 1997
* ...
, it was difficult to find willing nurses
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...
, doctors and maintenance staff to work on the island.[ It was not until 1946 that the island saw its first resident doctor, despite being an institution for the sick. Before this time, patients would receive a weekly visit by a qualified doctor who would provide basic ]medical care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...
.[
* Rosemary Opala was a nurse at Peel Island lazaret. Through both her art and writing, Opala became a significant commentator on the lazaret's history, its social stigma, and the controversial treatment of its patients. She is also recognised for her work documenting and promoting Peel Island's natural environment.
* Noel Laddie Agnew was the son of a postmaster's family and grew up in Dunwich on Stradbroke Island. In 1904, at the age of eight years, he was diagnosed with Hansen's disease and was one of many patients transferred from Stradbroke Island to the Peel Island lazaret in 1907.][ During his time on Peel Island, Noel listed over 75 species of birds that he observed on the island. In 1913, his seventh year on Peel Island, this list was published in the RAOU journal ''The Emu''. A subsequent list was published in 1921 during his 18th year at the lazaret. In 1937, after the disease had slowly attacked his ]limb
Limb may refer to:
Science and technology
*Limb (anatomy), an appendage of a human or animal
*Limb, a large or main branch of a tree
*Limb, in astronomy, the curved edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body, e.g. lunar limb
*Limb, in botany, ...
s and optic nerves
In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve is derived from ...
, Noel Laddie Agnew died on Peel Island at the age of 41.[
* June Berthelsen was another patient on the island, having been diagnosed with Hansen's disease in 1956.][Berthelsen, June. ''The Lost Years: A Story of Leprosy.'' Chipping Norton, NSW: Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1996. Print.] Her memoir, ''The Lost Years: A Story of Leprosy'', documents her experiences as a sufferer of Hansen's disease, and details her period on the island between 1956 and mid-1958. She was the only patient to have written a personal account about her experiences, which includes descriptions of her time on the island and the difficult daily living conditions there, as well as her experiences from her personal life and encounters off of the island. Her account describes her relationship with the nursing and medical staff on the island. The memoir mentions the Queensland government's non-payment of a pension to women sufferers of Hansen's, while male patients did receive it.[
]
Medical treatments and cures
One of the first experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
treatments for Hansen's disease was the short-lived drug nastin, which involved the injection
Injection or injected may refer to:
Science and technology
* Injective function, a mathematical function mapping distinct arguments to distinct values
* Injection (medicine), insertion of liquid into the body with a syringe
* Injection, in broadca ...
of the culture of the ''Bacillus
''Bacillus'' (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-shaped bacteria; and the plural ''Bacilli ...
'' of leprosy.[ This was followed by the common treatment of injecting patients with oil from the ]Chaulmoogra
''Hydnocarpus wightianus'' or chaulmoogra is a tree in the Achariaceae family. ''Hydnocarpus wightiana'' seed oil has been widely used in traditional Indian medicine, especially in Ayurveda, and in Chinese traditional medicine for the treatmen ...
nut. Although this treatment was often painful, and there was doubt as to whether it had long-term benefits, it remained a main treatment on Peel Island and around the world for more than 30 years. During this time, many medical professionals believed that a good diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
and a stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
-free lifestyle was more likely to send the disease into remission. In January 1947, Peel Island patients were treated with the first of several sulfone
In organic chemistry, a sulfone is a organosulfur compound containing a sulfonyl () functional group attached to two carbon atoms. The central hexavalent sulfur atom is double-bonded to each of two oxygen atoms and has a single bond to each of ...
derivative
In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. F ...
drugs, which were developed in the United States.[ These drugs proved the most successful in the long line of treatments for Hansen's disease sufferers, and from then on, the disease became easy to treat.
]
Social consequences
Hansen's disease was believed to be highly contagious
Contagious may refer to:
* Contagious disease
Literature
* Contagious (magazine), a marketing publication
* ''Contagious'' (novel), a science fiction thriller novel by Scott Sigler
Music
Albums
*''Contagious'' (Peggy Scott-Adams album), 1997
* ...
, with mortality unavoidable.[ Despite an increase in public understanding of this inaccuracy, this stigma had an incredibly long-lasting impact on the perception of patients on Peel Island.][Opala, Rosemary. "A Legend of Leprosy in Moreton Bay". ''Australian Folklore''. 12 (1997): 220–223. Print.] The Queensland Health Department’s decision to allay public fears
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perception, perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the thr ...
about the disease by isolating patients backfired, leading the public to believe the disease was worse than it actually was. Rosemary Opala described the island as "folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
" where "the mystery, however, gothic fiction, gothic, is so much more romantic and aesthetically satisfying."[ From the relocation of patients in 1959 to the ]Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) is a business division of the Department of Environment and Science within the Government of Queensland. The division’s primary concern is with the management and maintenance of protected areas ...
taking responsibility in 1992, Peel Island was left relatively untouched, as some of the original stigma remained.[
Much criticism has been levelled at the treatment of the patients on the lazaret. Hansen's disease not only affected the ill but also their families.][ As infected patients were sent into isolation, many families were left without a ]breadwinner
The breadwinner model is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, "the member of a family who earns the money to support the others." Traditionally, the earner works outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits such as he ...
; some were driven out of communities by fear and ignorance of the disease, and others found themselves unemployed as word spread about disease in the family.[ Furthermore, by extension, the carers of the island were viewed by many as a "people apart". Carers were viewed as "do-gooders", resented for their ability to come and go from the island at will.][
]
Closing of the lazaret
Due to the breakthrough in the treatment of Hansen's disease in the 1940s, the need for isolating patients declined and, therefore, so did the purpose of the lazaret on Peel Island. In 1959, the lazaret officially closed, and the remaining ten patients were sent to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane to finish their treatment.[Queensland Government Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sports and Racing. ''Teerk Roo Ra National Park – Nature, Culture and History''. The State of Queensland. 2013. Web. Accessed: 14 September 2013] By this time, many of the original prejudices
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's perc ...
about Hansen's disease had been overcome, and fear surrounding the disease had somewhat vanished. Today, several drugs are available that counteract symptoms of Hansen's disease such as nerve damage
Nerve injury is an injury to nervous tissue. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injuries. In 1941, Seddon introduced a classification of nerve injuries based on three main types of nerve f ...
, deformity
A deformity, dysmorphism, or dysmorphic feature is a major abnormality of an organism that makes a part of the body appear or function differently than how it is supposed to.
Causes
Deformity can be caused by a variety of factors:
*Arthritis an ...
, disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...
and further transmission
Transmission may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Power transmission
** Electric power transmission
** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power
*** Automatic transmission
*** Manual transmission
*** ...
. Researchers are also working on vaccines
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity
The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...
to prevent the disease, as well as early detection.
Heritage listings
In 1993, Peel Island was recognised for its outstanding cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...
, and was consequently placed on the Queensland Heritage Register
The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As a ...
and the former Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...
. In December 2007, Peel Island was declared as ''Teerk Roo Ra'' (Place of Many Shells) National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
and Conservation Park. It is also listed on the Redland City Heritage Register.
See also
* History of Brisbane
Brisbane's recorded history dates from 1799, when Matthew Flinders explored Moreton Bay on an expedition from Port Jackson, although the region had long been occupied by the Yugara and Turrbal aboriginal tribes. The town was conceived initially ...
* List of islands of Queensland
References
Further reading
* Blake, Thom. "The leper shall dwell alone: A history of Peel Island lazaret". ''Brisbane: Moreton Bay Matters''. 19. (2002): 72–86. Print.
* Bryce, Rhonda, Ryan, Tracy, and Van Willigen, Gabrielle, eds. ''Going to the Gums: The Lazaret on Peel Island''. Cleveland DC, QLD: Friends of Peel Island Association Inc., 2009. Print.
* Ludlow, Peter. ''Peel Island: Paradise or Prison''. Stones Corner Queensland. 1989. Print.
* O'Brien, Anne. "All Creatures of the Living God: Religion and Leprosy in Turn of the Century Queensland." ''History Australia''. 5.2 (2008): 1–40. Print.
External links
Friends of Peel Island Association "History" page
Accessed 5 September 2010
John Oxley Library blog (14 August 2009) "50th anniversary of the closing of the Peel Island lazaret"
Accessed 5 September 2010
small>Accessed 5 September 2010
small>Accessed 5 September 2010
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQel6mBxnpo Video on A Slice of Peel island's History
{{South East Queensland
Islands of Moreton Bay
Leper colonies
Queensland Heritage Register
National parks of South East Queensland
Suburbs of Redland City
Medical and health organisations based in Australia
Localities in Queensland