The COVID pandemic concerns has been in most of our minds for several years. And we are still discussing where did the virus come from: the laboratory or from the wild? And in this blog I will discuss what I learnt from history that may point to an answer to our current queries. I know it is long, more than 140 words, so hopefully you will perservere.
Let’s go back in time 235 years. The date is 22 January 1788.
Imagine we are first Europeans to make a recorded landing in a new continent shown on ancient maps as Terra Australis Incognita: Unknown Southern Land. Now we call it Australia.
After a gruelling ocean journey of 252 days, our (First) Fleet of 11 sailing ships land in a big bay that has no fresh water. Two days later, we send a party of sailors, led by Hunter and Bradley, to try find fresh water. The party explores an opening between two precipitous rock (North and South) heads that leads into another big bay, which they discover is actually a huge harbour. In fact they much later they find its three huge interconnected harbours, which they call Port Jackson, Middle Harbour and North Harbour. What they did not know was that millennia before all this was incised deep river valleys which became flooded by the rising ocean after the melting of the ice caps at the end of a long ice age.
On 26 January 1788 these Europeans, mostly British, find a spring with fresh water (later called the Tank Stream) in a deep anchorage cove which they call Sydney Cove, now Circular Quay.
Then they further go exploring and land on a headland that protrudes half way through the Harbour. They encounter a friendly group of Indigenous people (who they call Aboriginals, from the Latin of “First Original Peoples”). The Indigenous people call this head land : Cubba Cubba (even though there was no Fidel Castro!). Loving simplicity, we now call it Middle Head. “Head” was a popular word amongst us!
The Indigenous tribe that was met for the first time were called the Borogegal, and they lived mostly in the area of the Great Harbour known to them as Goram Bullagong (now called Mosman Bay, after a famous whaler), and Cubba Cubba (see of my photos from my recent visit). Another tribe was prominent in the general area called the Cammeragal. Both “gals” or tribes spoke the same language : Kuringai. The Indigenous people were amazed by what they called “winged boats” or some called them Boo-Roo-Wang.
When they met the Europeans at Cuba Cubba and Korea (Chowder Bay), it was estimated that there was at least 3000 Indigenous people around the Great Harbour. Within 50 years of European Colonisation of Sydney Harbour the Indigenous people were reduced to less than 300.
The Borogegal had been in the Mosman area for at least 3000 years. The Cammeragal had been in the Sydney Region for at least 10,000 years. And further inland the 350 original “gals” had been in This Brown Southern Land of the Dreaming for over 60,000 years. Now, there are still some, but not many. They are almost extinct. That leaves less than 5,000. There are a total of 468,000 Aboriginal people in Australia, of whom 99% are mixed blood and 1% pureblood.
What happened originally on First Contact to result in such a dramatic reduction in Indigenous population?
A catastrophic viral Epidemic! Sounds familiar?
In April 1789, a little more than 1 year after after first contact in Sydney, an epidemic of smallpox virus hit Sydney and it killed only the Indigenous people. Newton Fowell, a Midshipman, describes what he saw as he rowed around Goram Bullagong’s 18 km shoreline, with 10 beaches: “Every boat that went down the Harbour found them laying dead on the beaches”.
The Europeans were not affected. An investigation was carried out and it was stated that none of the Europeans in the First Fleet had any symptoms of smallpox infection. It was then blamed on the French who had landed almost same time at La Perouse next to Botany Bay.
Now it is blamed on a likely accident or deliberate act of release of the smallpox virus that was kept by the ship’s surgeons in bottles, in not very safe or secure stores or “labs”. These bottles were supposed to contain a mild form of the virus (cowpox) which would be used for inoculation of the Europeans, if needed. But what if the virus in some of the bottles was no mild, a more deadly aggressive infectious variant? And what if the bottle was broken or deliberate spilled and infected a local Indigenous person who had absolute no immunity to this new virus since was never seen before in Australia? Accidental or Deliberate . Whatever, it facilitated hugely the conquering of the huge southern land from the local original owners!
The Global Soul 