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Fish bones and scorching hair: new research shows how Aboriginal people fought smallpox

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 1212 words · By Heidi Norman; Nicholas Pitt
Medical History Colonial Impact and Culpability Indigenous Agency and Resistance
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What to know about Medical History

The article discusses research based on an 1831 medical report by Dr. John Mair, detailing how Wiradjuri, Gomeroi, and Wailwan peoples responded to a smallpox epidemic in the 1830s. It highlights three primary responses: isolation, active medical treatment, and the acceptance of vaccination and variolation.

Propaganda risk 20%
Claims checked 17
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

As Aboriginal nations mounted a series of coordinated and strategic campaigns to defend Country against invading settlers, the smallpox epidemic spread across the southeast from 1830 to 1832.

Why it matters

It disproportionately affected Aboriginal people, killing large numbers of First Nations people exposed to it.

Common ground

Historical research so far has looked at the origins of the epidemic, mortality and the culpability of the settlers.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

The article discusses research based on an 1831 medical report by Dr. John Mair, detailing how Wiradjuri, Gomeroi, and Wailwan peoples responded to a smallpox epidemic in the 1830s. It highlights three primary responses: isolation, active medical treatment, and the acceptance of vaccination and variolation.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/fish-bones-and-scorching-hair-new-research-shows-how…

analyticsAnalysis

20%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 17 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 7
verified Verified 3
check_circle Corroborated 3
info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
schedule
Claim 1: “Smallpox was the first virus for which a vaccine was found.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 2: ““The Barber” was arrested twice in 1831, in April and October, before and after the epidemic.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 3: “treatment included immersion in cold water... Head hair was removed by scorching close to the scalp. Further treatment included “pricking the pustules with a sharp pointed fish bone” and pressing out the fluid with a flat instrument.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific medical treatments (fish bones, scorching hair) are mentioned in the titles of the UNSW/research articles, but the full detailed description of the treatment process is not explicitly detailed in the provided snippets to allow for corroboration across multiple sources.
verified
Claim 4: “It’s likely these men had previously caught smallpox in 1789 or 1790, after the disease had first broken out around the colonisers’ camp at Sydney Cove”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia (Arabanoo entry) and multiple web search results explicitly confirm that smallpox broke out among the Indigenous people around Sydney Cove in April 1789.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Arabanoo (c. 1759 – 1789)[1] was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Eora forcibly abducted on New Year's Eve 1788 by British colonists who arrived with the First Fleet at Port Jackson.In April 1789, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabanoo
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Smallpox has been one of humanity’s deadliest diseases, though it has now been eradicated. There is still debate over how smallpox broke out in the Sydney area in 1789. The colonists had developed som…
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/smallpox-e…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — How did smallpox spread from the Sydney region? Smallpox broke out among the bands living between Sydney Cove and the Heads, the Gadigal, Gamaragal, Gayamagal, Borogegal and Birrabirragal, (67) in ear…
https://web.archive.org/web/20120406201638/http://treatyrepu…
schedule
Claim 5: “from 1838 to 1844, Gomeroi, Wiradjuri and Wailwan led an uprising”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 6: “a decade later the local pastoralist, James Walker, reported he was grateful for their return as he relied on their labour”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the general context of the epidemic is found, the specific detail regarding James Walker's report on the return of the Wiradjuri people to Wallerawang a decade later is not present in the provided evidence.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The Castlereagh River is located in the central–western district of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Macquarie-Castlereagh catchment within the Murray–Darling basin and is an unregulated …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlereagh_River
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — These Steppe communities mixed genetically with peoples of the Bactria...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/292581v1
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — James is a proud Wiradjuri man living and working on Gunaikurnai Country. His artistic journey began with acrylic painting on canvas, using the materials ava...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Lcbi6lEvc
schedule
Claim 7: “The Grants experimented with variolation in stages – first testing it on ten people from “Miles’ and Camberrang’s tribes”, then others from the community, and lastly, on Jeremiah Grant himself.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 8: “Variolation involved controlled inoculation with smallpox pus, which supposedly caused a mild case of smallpox that prevented future infection.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 9: “access to a lesser-known medical report from 1831 by army doctor John Mair”
VERIFIED
A specific web source ('Smallpox in Australia Facts for Kids') confirms that in 1831, Governor sent army surgeon John Mair to the Bathurst region to investigate the epidemic and that he reported it was almost certainly smallpox.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — General Sir George Townshend Walker, 1st Baronet, (25 May 1764 – 14 November 1842) was a British Army officer. He joined the army in 1782, serving with the 36th Regiment of Foot in India in 1784 and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_George_Walker,_1st_Baronet
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet PC, DL, JP (born Calvert; 8 December 1801 – 12 February 1894) was an English soldier and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1832 and 188…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Harry_Verney,_2nd_Baronet
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Alan Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet, (23 August 1846 – 9 June 1921) was an Anglo-Irish Conservative Member of Parliament. He was Justice of the Peace, High Sheriff of Louth and Lord Lieutenant of L…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Henry_Bellingham,_4th_Baro…
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 10: “Mair... sent vaccine packages and later performed vaccinations himself.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 11: “a group “convinced of the contagious nature of the disease” fled to Emu Plains, 100 kilometres southeast and on the opposite side of the mountains, in order to escape the epidemic”
CORROBORATED
Three separate sources (UNSW, 'Aboriginal responses to smallpox...', and 'Smallpox on the Limits of Location') confirm that a group from Wallerawang fled to Emu Plains to escape the contagious disease.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... In another example, this time from a station at Wallerawang (near present-day Lithgow), a group “convinced of the contagious nature of the ...
https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2026/06/new-research-s…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 4 days ago ... smallpox epidemics caused widespread death – for the Coastal People in the late 1780s, ... fled to Emu Plains a hundred kilometres to the south- ...
https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n15244/pdf/01…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — in print to the epidemic raging among Aboriginal peoples beyond the close con- ... Movement of people to Emu. Plains from Wallerawang. Andrew Brown. Emu Plains.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1031461X.2025.25…
verified
Claim 12: “George Clarke was a bushranger known as “the Barber” who lived with the Gomeroi people for several years.”
VERIFIED
A web source ('The Clarke brothers, lesser-known Australian bushrangers') identifies George Clarke as 'George the Barber', a convict/bushranger who escaped.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Mar 24, 2026 · Among the most notable convicts at that time was George Clarke, who was generally known as George the Barber. This convict managed to escape ...Life of Reuben Clarke, NSW convict and co…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/356239062961196/posts/147690…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jul 10, 2024 · Well written story of the very sad demise of a way of life, by the stroke of a pen. Wasn't ideal but it worked for the people of the tribe.
https://www.facebook.com/AustralianRhymingPoets/posts/dave-m…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 7 days ago · Lived in Bargo in the early 70s, such a peaceful town. I remember when this happened, so devastating. Was shocked when I learned this piece ...
https://www.facebook.com/binge.society.dark/posts/bargo-a-qu…
schedule
Claim 13: “Arthur Ranken, a pastoralist on the Lachlan River, performed variolation on several Wiradjuri people and convinced his neighbours John and Jeremiah Grant to do the same.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 14: “It disproportionately affected Aboriginal people, killing large numbers of First Nations people exposed to it.”
VERIFIED
Evidence from Wikipedia and web search results confirms that smallpox outbreaks in Australia devastated Aboriginal populations, specifically noting the 1789 outbreak and the general impact on First Nations people during these epidemics.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aboriginal may refer to: Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area One of several groups of indigenous peoples (see List of indigenous peopl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Australians
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Australian Aboriginal flag is an official flag of Australia that represents Aboriginal Australians. It was granted official status in 1995 under the Flags Act 1953, together with the Torres Strait…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_flag
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 15: “they had experienced the disease when they were very young, and they had the distinctive scars to prove it”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources (UNSW and a related research article) explicitly mention that 'Old men at one cattle station' told researchers they had experienced smallpox previously, implying survival from an earlier outbreak.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aboriginal Tasmanians (palawa kani: Palawa, Pakana) are the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, the large island south of mainland Australia. Aboriginal people lived in Tasmania for tens of thousands of ye…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Tasmanians
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832 which precipitated the near-extermination of the Indigenous po…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_War
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment was an internment facility built at Flinders Island by the colonial British government of Van Diemen's Land to accommodate forcibly exiled Aboriginal Tasmanians …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wybalenna_Aboriginal_Establish…
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 16: “the smallpox epidemic spread across the southeast from 1830 to 1832”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including a Wikipedia entry on smallpox in Australia and a scholarly/web source ('Smallpox on the Limits of Location'), confirm a smallpox epidemic impacted First Nations communities across southeastern Australia in the early 1830s.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a land area of 7,688,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — 1830 (MDCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1830th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (A…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1830
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following lists events that happened during 1830 in Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1830_in_Australia
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 17: “John Mair... with a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh and training at leading British and French hospitals”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
The evidence confirms John Mair was an army surgeon, but does not provide details regarding his specific degree from the University of Edinburgh or training in French hospitals.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.