QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

“Pratique” or Quarantine?

References: Jan Macintyre’s material supplied by Eric and Rosemary Kopittke and Les Moreland. List of vessels compiled from research undertaken by Peter Ludlow, Rod McLeod, and Gabrielle van Willigen. • Friedeburg again, ex-Hamburg via Rio de Janeiro (17 October–27 November 1878) with typhoid • Fritz Reuter ex-Hamburg (from 20 January 1879) with typhoid Some German ships quarantined at Peel Island include: • Lammershagen (from 8 January 1873) with typhoid causing at least 7 deaths while on Peel • Friedeburg ex-Hamburg (20 August–17 September 1873) with scarlet fever causing one death • Gazelle (German warship) (from 1 January 1876) with an unrecorded disease causing about 10 deaths • Charles Dickens ex-Hamburg (19 July–4 September 1877) with measles and typhoid fever causing 8 deaths • Lammershagen again, ex-Hamburg (6–10 August 1878)

A passenger aboard the Friedeburg recorded that “about 40 of the single men first pitched tents while the rest washed themselves and their clothing. The married people were then sent to do likewise. Some of the ship’s fittings had been landed on the island, and were being used on the tents. When [Superintendent] Hamilton discovered this, he ordered the lot to be taken away immediately and burnt.” There were only two cases of serious illness on the island: six year-old Matilda Kluck, who had ulcerated bowels and chronic diarrhoea, and her older brother August, who had contracted scarlet fever the day the ship arrived. After four days, the captain was able to report that the ship had been thoroughly cleaned and fumigated, ready for inspection. On 31August, the ship’s crew was checked, released from quarantine, and admitted to pratique. On 8 September, the Kate left Peel Island at 10am bound for Brisbane with 284 adults aboard. The Telegraph newspaper reported: “They were in the highest spirits, no doubt glad to be released from their temporary confinement in quarantine. They seem a very respectable class of people, and the single men look strong and well able to do heavy work. There are about 370 people in all, and as a large number of people are in town from the interior who have been disappointed in obtaining the services of the ‘Great Queenslanders’ [as the hard-working Germans had by now come to be known], they will tomorrow morning be able to supply themselves at the Depot.” On the 9th, Hamilton reported that August Kluck would be released from hospital in two days, but that Matilda seemed incurable. (She died on the 11th at 3am, and it was not until the 17th that the last of the people were released from Peel Island.) The same day, the paper reported “the immigrants were moving off very fast from the depot” and that “a few more days would see it empty.”

Pratique is traditionally defined as “a licence to hold intercourse with port after quarantine, etc” – in other words, clearance to enter harbour after satisfying officials that the vessel and its occupants are free of contagious diseases. Ships traditionally flew a yellow flag (which became the square Q-for-Quebec flag in the international signalling alphabet) to request pratique as they approached land. The term quarantine itself originates from the Italian “quaranta” or “40”, the duration in days of isolation used to help control the Plague in Europe in the 14th century.

Background: a 2012 aerial view of Peel Island from above Dunwich, looking southwest towards Cleveland Point, 10km (4 miles) distant across Moreton Bay. The quarantine anchorage lay off the rocky Bluff on the southeast point, lower left, between Peel and the former Bird Island, and landings were made via on a rock causeway. Out of sight to the right, the mouth of the Brisbane River lies 25km (10 miles) across Moreton Bay to the northwest. Image (0507-2724-05) courtesy of AirViewOnline.com.au

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