Patient zero: First outbreak
Listen now
Description
“Aboriginal people had a name for it... they called it ‘Devil Devil’...” 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’s 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’d 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 BBC World Service
More Episodes
Published 03/25/24
Hannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery. A young researcher gains access to a secretive data set and discovers a system causing harm to the very people it is supposed to help. One day a student makes a discovery which, if true, could shake the intellectual foundations of a global...
Published 03/25/24
Millions of women around the world experience the menopause each year; it’s an important milestone, which marks the end of their reproductive years. But every individual's experience of it is personal and unique. In some cultures, there's a stigma about this life stage – it's viewed with...
Published 03/21/24