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Queensland - Organisation

Dayman Island Lazaret (1889 - 1892)

From
9 May 1889
To
1892
Categories
Leprosarium

The Dayman Island Lazaret, in the Torres Strait, was established in 1889 as a leprosarium for non-European sufferers of leprosy. It was run by the Queensland government and closed in 1892. Remaining patients were moved to Friday Island.

Details

The Dayman Island facility received non-European patients, the majority of which were Chinese. South Sea Islander and Chinese people who were thought to carry and spread leprosy, consequently they were removed to the isolated and uninhabited island.

Dayman Island was a Lazaret in name only. The patients were abandoned on Dayman Island and left to fend for themselves. In Going to the Gums: the lazaret on Peel Island (2007), Dr Hugo Ree writes:

The men were provided with food, seeds, fishing tackle and some tools; two military tents were put up for their accommodation. The steamer that had brought them then sailed away.

The passing of the Leprosy Act of 1892 resulted in the estabishment of two leprosariums; one on Friday Island for non-Europeans and the other on Stradbroke Island for Europeans. The patients on Dayman Island were transferred to Friday Island.

Related Glossary Terms

Related Legislation

  • Leprosy Act 1892 (1892 - 1937)

    The Leprosy Act provided for the treatment of lepers as well as their detention and isolation. It also allowed for the government to appoint any place to be a lazaret for the reception and medical treatment of lepers.

Publications

Books

  • Bryce, R , Ryan, T, Van Willigen, G, Opala, R, Venner, R, Friends of Peel Island, Going to the gums: the lazaret on Peel Island, Friends of Peel Island Association Inc, Cleveland DC, 2009, 70 pp. Details

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Fantome Island Lock Hospital and Lazaret Sites (former)', in Queensland Heritage Register, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP), 30 June 2015, https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602798; Bryce, R , Ryan, T, Van Willigen, G, Opala, R, Venner, R, Friends of Peel Island, Going to the gums: the lazaret on Peel Island, Friends of Peel Island Association Inc, Cleveland DC, 2009, 70 pp; Intended solely for their greater comfort and happiness: Historical archaeology, paternalism and the Peel Island Lazaret, 1999, http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:190067/the13923.pdf.

Prepared by: Lee Butterworth