FROM THE PAST
A COMPELLING
ARGUMENT FOR
VACCINATION
If the headlines of today were to shout 40,000 dead from measles, would
those modern young mothers who denied their children immunity from any one of
the countless diseases rampant today gasp in shock and reconsider their stance?
Yes? No?
Maybe?
Think again,
because it happened some 150 years ago, and could easily happen here now, right
here in your own backyard at any moment.
***
FIJI – A BREATH OF DEATH
Back in 1874
the Fiji islands ruled by a charismatic King Cakobau and a governing body made
up of European settlers and expatriates from the colony of Australia were doing
it hard. Cakobau’s government was an amateur, unprofessional governing body
consisting of a few dedicated men and a host of greedy hangers on.
Money was
leeching from coffers, some of the local chiefs were being led astray, and the
ones that were honourable were finding it very hard indeed to stay on the
straight and narrow. Blackbirding was rife and unfair taxation high.
With money
owed left right and centre, but mainly to the Government of the United States demanding
an outstanding loan be paid forthwith, an urgent entreaty was made to the
British Government and to Queen Victoria to take over their country, paying
their debts of course, and to provide the country of Fiji with stable
government.
After much
deliberation all this was agreed to. The
annexation ceremony held in Levuka, Fiji’s capital, was a splendid affair, the
newly appointed Governor of Fiji, Sir Hercules Robinson installed in office, the
now ex-King Cakobau and his many Chiefs in their splendid European style yachts
returned to their various island villages and all was well.
Then after a
year or so Sir Hercules, due to hand over his responsibilities to another
Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon departs home to Sydney in Australia. But not before extending an invitation to
the Fijian King and his retinue to visit him back in Australia.
Which Cakobau
does, accompanied by his sons, retainers and numerous servants, he boards the
HMS Dido under the command of Captain W.C. Chapman. They royal party have a marvellous time. See the sights, enjoy lavish hospitality, and
along the way two of his young sons Joe and Timothy unhappily come down with a
‘mild’ case of measles.
Nothing to
worry about, the young men soon recover, though on the trip home to Fiji it is
soon noticed that two of the servants on board the vessel show signs of the
same illness.
King Cakobau
meanwhile at one stage feels rather poorly himself but rallies as their ship
makes dock at Levuka.
But no one
notices that the usual yellow flag denoting a contagious disease aboard is not
flying from the yardarm.
Fiji is a
delightful country, Fijians are a handsome race, full of fun and they are very
loyal. When news very swiftly reaches
the farthest points of this Island Kingdom that their King is arriving back in
Levuka, there is a concerted rush by all the numerous minor Chiefs and their
retinues to greet him as he returns and steps back on Fijian soil.
Boats arrive
in their dozens and more from all the outlying islands that make up the country
of Fiji… there are after all hundreds of chiefs resident in this far flung maritime
country.
Cakobau
The greetings
are performed in stages, first those in Levuka itself, and as is the custom the
chiefs approach and fervently sniff their King’s hand and his face, so close
one to the other that a breath is exchanged and the seeds of disaster are
instantly sowed.
As these
initial vassals disperse they in turn pass on the deadly virus to others, and
so it continues until the wailing and the illness and the deaths multiply over
and again.
Of course the
British officials are beside themselves with guilt. The King’s illness was so minor but this is
no excuse; too late they realise the flag should have been raised. Soon though, missionaries and plantation
owners, government officials and village elders, are swamped with a disaster of
far reaching and uncountable horror, the growing numbers of dead and dying.
White men on
their plantations rush to help until they too fall victim. Missionaries set up emergency hospitals but
they are swamped by the enormity of it all.
An eyewitness
account reports the harrowing details that come from every island and
plantation alike. The dead are being
buried in their own houses, all of them built with palm fronds and the like and
these duly collapse, the raised foundation upon which every Fijian village
house is built quickly becomes the grave for entire families. Starvation, fever
and dysentery abound; everywhere there is the stench of rotting bodies.
Whole
families die leaving behind perhaps an orphan, a lone survivor in a village of
death.
Cakobau
survives
*
My great
grandmother Geraldine McGowan at that time was living on the island of Kadavu,
some miles away, an island used by the large steamers to land mail and
passengers enroute from San Francisco to New Zealand and Australia. On
realising the scope of the epidemic Government officials immediately send a
medical man, Doctor Mayo to swiftly vaccinate the island population and
hopefully avoid the illness overtaking the island.
Happily the
local villagers take kindly to the injections; they have a fancy for making
scars on their skin, both as remedy and ornament, so enjoy the whole process. They arrive voluntarily to his hut, the doctor
they call mat-ni-mate or carpenter of
death.
My great
grandmother Geraldine, her husband William and their two sons Alfred and
William receive their vaccination, and they survive. The island of Kadavu is not decimated by the
measles.
Not so the
estimated 40,000 who perished elsewhere…. and could have lived on had they been
vaccinated before being infected.
***
I’m a
grandmother myself now. I made sure my
children were vaccinated for each and every affliction such treatment was
available. As parents we have a duty of
care to ensure our children do not fall ill to the rampages of diseases like
the measles which killed off at least one third of Fiji’s entire population.
Imagine the
babies and children who died in the Measles plague of 1875 and then gaze upon
your own babies. You should really have no
choice.
Vaccinate do
not prevaricate.
***
Robyn Mortimer
2016.
