Patient zero: First outbreak

“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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