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Discovery: Patient zero: First outbreak

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Patient Zero

31/05/2021 GMT

Patient zero: First outbreak

BBC World Service - Discovery, Patient zero: First outbreakSearch BBC

Disease devastates Aboriginal communities in 1789

“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

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