Disease, Epidemics and Soames’ Island Quarantine Station

Being lucky enough to live in an era where immunization has wiped out or greatly reduced the chance of being infected with a virulent, communicable disease such as smallpox, scarlet fever, typhoid, etc, I always feel a moment of shock when I find an ancestor who died of what is now a preventable disease.

I recently ran across the cemetery transcription for the Soames' Island Cemetery. Soames' Island, located in the Wellington harbor, was used for many years, beginning in 1868, as a quarantine station for ships arriving at Wellington with disease onboard. The last five burials in the cemetery took place in 1919 and were related to the influenza pandemic.

Epidemics of communicable diseases existed in New Zealand long before the mass arrival of European immigrants. In 1790 an epidemic of rewha-rewha (influenza) killed 60% of Maori population in North Island. Early influenza outbreaks among Maori were reported at Foveaux Strait in Southland between 1817 and 1820, and in the Bay of Islands and Mercury Bay in Coromandel in 1838 and 1839.

In 1835 measles were reported among Maori working at the South Island whaling stations. This was the first time measles appeared in New Zealand, and was believed to have been introduced by a Maori native returning home from Sydney on the sailing vessel 'Children'. Unaware of how to cope with a foreign disease, entire Maori communities apparently resorted to bathing in streams in order to rid themselves of the spots. T. A. Pybus wrote: ‘The death rate was serious, and in many cases the people died as they stood. Even in later years skeletons have been found far from their kaikas (settlements) … lying one across another indicating the suddenness of the end. Measles was also reportedly prevalent in 1838 on South Island's Otago Peninsula.

A Measles epidemic occurred in 1854, brought in by passengers on a Tasmanian ship that arrived in North Island. The epidemic spread concurrently with a scarlet fever epidemic.

Scarlet fever was introduced to New Zealand during the late 1840s or mid-1850s. The first really severe outbreak occurred in Dunedin during 1863-64. Diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid were also prevalent during that time. The next major outbreak of scarlet fever apparently was imported from Australia and occurred in 1876-1877. It spread across New Zealand, although some areas suffered more than others. Scarlett fever struck again in epidemic form during 1881-82.

Whopping Cough epidemics occurred in 1873 and 1907. Prior outbreaks of Whopping Cough occurred in 1818 and 1847 but at the time the disease did not have to be reported to health officials.

Once European settlement of New Zealand began in earnest, communicable diseases often arrived on ships filled with immigrants. Once these sick passengers joined the local communities, the disease could spread quickly. Early European settlements often lacked clean water supplies and effective sewage disposal. Typhoid and other bacterial infections were common, along with diphtheria, measles, whooping cough (pertussis), scarlet fever and tuberculosis. Infant mortality rates were high and medical treatments were often ineffective. Typhoid was a killer between the 1810s to 1890s. Tuberculosis was also a constant killer during this period – an endemic epidemic – and wasn’t brought under control until the 1950s.

Health Officers or other officials usually met a ship when it entered harbor and were given a report of any disease onboard. Various quarantine methods were used through the years.

(Next installment - the founding of Soames' Island Quarantine Station)

Smallpox Arrives in New Zealand, Quarantine Station Founded

In 1868 the ship S.S. Kaikoura arrived in Wellington from England, via Panama, with two cases of smallpox on board. This prompted the formation of a "Medical Board" which determined that Soames' Island, in Wellington Bay, would become a quarantine area. This was the first time a ship with smallpox onboard had arrived in the colony of New Zealand. In 1858 those quarantined on the island lived in temporary tents. If any of the ill passengers died while on Soames' Island, they were not buried in its cemetery, or their names are lost to history.

The first burial in the Soames' Island Cemetery was 1872, when an un-named child died of smallpox. She and her family were passengers on the ship 'England', which had a large number of Scandinavian immigrants and arrived on Saturday, March 9, 1872 at Wellington. By the next day the death count onboard was fourteen children and three adults. Disease first appeared during the voyage amongst the Scandinavian children and the Wellington Board of Health determined that the disease was smallpox. There was also an outbreak of measles onboard. Passengers had complained about the fitness of the ship's Doctor and after arrival in Wellington he was arrested.

Due to the large number of people now quarantined on the island, the Board of Health decided to erect two buildings on opposite sides of the island, one for the sick and the other for the convalescent.

On 11 March 1872 the newspapers reported the death “of another child” who had been buried on Soames' Island. This child is not listed on the cemetery transcript, which only contains one 1872 burial, two year old Mary Elizabeth Rudman (Redman). Her exact death date is not known, one version says 25 Jan 1872, and another 26 Jul 1872. I tend to believe the July date is correct, as in June 1872 there were almost simultaneous breakouts of smallpox in Wellington and Auckland.

On 26 May 1872 Mr. Kaye, a mail agent, arrived on the ship Nebraska from San Francisco. By June it became aware that he had a mild case of smallpox and was sent to Soames Island, where many of the passengers from the ship England were still quarantined. Mr. Kaye first claimed not to know where he could have been infected, but later admitted that smallpox was prevalent when he was in San Francisco. On 17June a Mr. Thompson, passenger on the same ship as Mr. Kaye died from smallpox at Auckland Hospital. On July 2nd it was reported that one of the Armed Constabulary (Patrick Loughran), who was in attendance on Mr. Kaye, also came down with smallpox (he survived, as did Mr. Kaye). It's quite possible that Mr. Kaye and Mr. Thompson were responsible for the 1872 outbreaks on the mainland.

Next installment - 1873-1876 , 25 burials at Soames' Island Cemetery