Book Listing

Illness in Colonial Australia

This comprehensive work traces the sad, destructive impact on Aboriginal and colonists’ health of the Old World’s crowd diseases—measles, scarlet fever, influenza, smallpox and tuberculosis among them. It also tells of the attempts by mothers and medical professionals to heal and prevent disease with nursing, sanitary reform and the building of hospitals. Smith sets his account in the context of political, economic and social history. He writes with authority and wit—his book will entertain and instruct a wide range of readers, including general history students, health providers, administrators and educators.