1062 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 
kind.” Dr. John White, the surgeon-general of the First Fleet, did 
not agree with this opinion. The name of the “ malignant 
disease ” was not stated, nor were the deaths that occurred during 
the voyage particularised. Captain Trench, referring to the 
voyage of the First Fleet, says: ‘“ No person amongst us had been 
affected with the disorder (small-pox) since leaving the Cape of 
Good Hope,” a statement which induces the inference that there 
was small-pox on board before that time. It is possible, therefore, 
that the ‘“ Alexandria,” or some other vessel of the First Fleet, 
carried the infection to Sydney, and from the settlement there it 
was subsequently conveyed to the blacks, perhaps by means of 
infected clothing or some other article, as in the case of the North 
American Indians. However, it must be admitted that there is 
little more than surmise to go upon, and that the precise way in 
which small-pox was introduced into Australia remains undeter- 
mined. 
Such, in brief, is the history of what appears to be the first 
appearance of small-pox in Australia. The disease was mainly 
incident on that part of the continent south of the tropic of 
Capricorn. There seems to have been a second epidemic amongst 
the blacks in 1860-61, this time apparently limited to Northern 
Australia. The blacks suffered severely, but the whites escaped 
as before. On this occasion the disease is believed to have been 
introduced by Malays or Chinese fishermen. 
About this time the colonies of Victoria and Queensland were 
separated off from what is now New South Wales. As regards 
this latter province, the importation of small-pox has threatened 
or actually occurred on several occasions, and formed the subject 
of Board of Health reports in 1881-1882, 1883-1884, 1886 
(s.s. ‘*Oceanien”), 1887 (s.s. ‘“ Preussen”), and 1892 (R.M.S8. 
“Oroya”). The most important of these invasions was the 
epidemic of 1881-1882, which lasted from May, 1881, to 
February, 1882, during which time 154 persons were attacked, 
and forty died. One result of this epidemic was the passing of the 
“Infectious Disease Supervision Act of 1881,” which requires 
immediate notification of “any case of small-pox or any eruptive 
fever which may reasonably be supposed to be small-pox.” A 
Board of Health was constituted by the Act, and directed to 
carry out its provisions, as well as those of the Quarantine Act 
of 1832. Both of the Acts, amended in certain particulars, are 
still in force, and the Board continues to discharge its duties under 
them. 
The system of maritime quarantine practised in this country is 
generally well-known. ‘The exact details of the procedure will be 
found in the Report of the Australian Sanitary Conference of 
1884, and in the Board of Health’s reports concerning the 
quarantine of particular vessels. 
