Sydney and the plague
In 1900 there was an outbreak of the plague on the Rocks in New South Walecs. It was bubonic plague - the yukky kind that gets into your lungs and drowns you. The government bought all of the house on the Rocks and squished them flat and effectively disinfected them, in the hope it would stop the plague spreading.
Reading about the effect the plague had on Sydney doesn't sound all that different from American media with anthrax reports. Even though there were many other diseases in Sydney killing a lot more people, the fear of the plague spread through Sydney enough for the governor Billy Hughes to note: "alarm bordering on panic had spread throughout the community and by nightfall the trains to the mountains were crowded with citizens fleeing the community."
Now some of Sydney's best restaurants can be found there. Was it a massive conspiracy by the government to buy up all the prime real estate in the area? After all, only 3 people who lived in the Rocks actually died of the plague (100 people died of the plague elsewhere in Sydney) - but the whole area was demolished.
Last updated: 13th October, 2001
New South Wales
