ON a remote stretch of high sand facing the ocean at North Stockton sits a solitary grave.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The isolated site is the last resting place of a young Newcastle schoolboy who was tragically a victim of bubonic plague, or "black death", in 1905.
According to contemporary news reports, his name was Wallace McKensey and he lived in the inner city only to die on April 2, 1905, just one day short of his 17th birthday.
There used to be a rather weathered burial marker there, but I'm told it's long since gone, replaced by a more substantial marble tombstone erected by his loving family.
There were sad words on the old grave marker, something like, "Hopes lie buried here", but I've never seen it, only been told about it. That's because the isolated site, by an old fisherman's track, has now been closed off - permanently if you once had a relative with a disability living around here.
For the whole, now gated-off property is the old Stockton Centre, shielded by pine trees and near the iconic Stockton Bridge.
IN THE NEWS:
- NSW COVID-19 cases: Gladys Berejiklian calls 31 infections 'concerning'
- Scott Morrison lays out COVID-19 four-phase plan after national cabinet
- John Barilaro says NSW Nationals ready to 'fight' Liberals over Newcastle port container terminal
- Newcastle triathlete Aaron Royle selected for second Olympic Games
- Bayswater fly ash slurry leak sparks NSW EPA fine for AGL Macquarie
Poor young Wallace's visible lone grave is at the back of the former mental hospital, which replaced Newcastle's quarantine station originally there 120 years ago.
But he's not alone. At least two other burials took place at this sad, distant site when a yellow flag - indicating a quarantine station - fluttered above perhaps eight basic timber buildings here.
Also dying our 1905 plague outbreak was an Edward Jennings, of Corlette Street, Cooks Hill. He and an unknown fellow victim lie in now apparently unmarked graves. Perhaps there are more?
For the graveyard was deliberately chosen to be out-of-sight, out-of-mind destination presumably to not be a constant reminder of a potentially fatal disease that could easily slip into Newcastle Harbour, transmitted from vermin on any one of the many foreign ships visiting port.
The 1905 quarantine scare couldn't be ignored, and yet only four years earlier a little bit of complacency seemed to have crept in.
For the book, the Federal Directory of Newcastle 1901, had this to say: "In 1900 . . .bubonic plague (spread from fleas on rats) raged in Sydney and threatened Newcastle, fortunately it didn't reach Newcastle, probably due to the extreme precautions taken."
A block of weatherboard buildings was hastily erected at North Stockton in 1900 awaiting their first patients. The station stayed in use until 1910, when it was handed over to be re-developed as "an asylum for the insane".
At first, while being used as a 'Q' station, a high galvanised fence was put up to deter possible escapees. This was later removed, probably in the late 1920s.
New Stockton Hospital wards then appeared on site in 1934 and 1941 and with the Richmond Scheme in the 1980s, many people in the institution were moved into the community. Some remained, though, until fairly recently when the Stockton Centre was permanently closed. Many of its buildings will possibly become homes for defence personnel.
Meanwhile, almost everyone forgot the site's early history as the Hunter quarantine station. Authorities seemed happy to close the old 'Q' station in 1910 because it did away with the "great inconvenience and expense necessitated" by having to send the crews of infectious disease-stricken vessels to the Sydney Quarantine Station.
After an earlier health scare in 1895, Newcastle people had demanded their own quarantine station where anyone suspected of having major diseases onboard, such as typhoid, smallpox or cholera, could isolate.
That year, two ships had arrived from Brazil with an outbreak of smallpox on board. The vessels were moored in mid-harbour, but authorities were accused of not responding to the emergency quickly enough.
Within a few days, there were four suspect vessels in port and the water police had a hard time keeping curious rubber-neckers away from the ships. The sick were soon moved to Sydney's North Head Quarantine Station to prevent an epidemic.
Sydney's 'Q' Station, now heritage-listed, was used between 1832 and 1984. In its peak years, more than 500 patients died there from infectious diseases. Conditions were extreme. Resident guards were instructed to shoot people who broke the rules. The site is now used for luxury accommodation and ghost tours.
So, in the current pandemic, with calls for purpose-built COVID-19 facilities, why not use the remote forgotten old quarantine site, the empty Stockton Centre that closed in 2020?
Despite being close to an airport and a major hospital, this is unlikely, although the site has potential, as Herald reporter Anita Beaumont discovered recently.
Actually, the Hunter Valley has been spared so far (cross fingers) from a major calamity. There were 12 major plague outbreaks in Australia between 1900 and 1925 transmitted by fleas onboard ships. In Sydney's 1900 bubonic plague crisis, hundreds of harbourside slum houses were demolished to eradicate rats. The Rocks precinct and Millers Point were barricaded.
More frightening is that bubonic plague has never left us. Around the world, up to 3000 cases are reported annually. In the US, it's not uncommon for a dozen people to die per year.
According to ABC Radio National's health reporter Dr Norman Swan the world has to constantly stay vigilant for infectious diseases.
Speaking in 2019 on the risk of plague alone, he said the world was still in the midst of its third pandemic. The first was a plague in the 6th century in the Eastern Roman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea.
Next came a plague in the 14th century which killed up to 30 per cent of Europe's population and lasted 300 years. The fatal germ involved was carried in rodents and thrived among disadvantaged people. Swan said the major spread of diseases was usually associated with wars, earthquakes, floods and the mass movement of people.
"Every so often the disease (plague) mutates, killing the carrier animals, and eventually comes to humans," he said.
"People don't realise plague was still around in the 16th and 17th centuries and no one knows why it ended. The Great Fire of London may have helped."
Swan said the third plague carried by rodents came from 19th century China, then moved across the Pacific to Australia.
But Australia was very lucky, unlike the US, where the disease also spread to wildlife, such as coyotes.
Swan said Mount Bruno, near San Francisco Airport, was a particular danger spot for the spread of plague. If there was a future natural disaster like a big earthquake, the aftermath could be "the stuff of nightmares".
"Plague is endemic on that mountain," Dr Swan said.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark: newcastleherald.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News