Memorial to Dr Edward Koch, Cairns, 1903. Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Dr Koch’s fever medicine

Queensland’s climate and environment have influenced disease patterns and sparked important discoveries: Alfred Jefferis Turner and John Lockhart Gibson discovering that lead in paint caused lead poisoning in children and that hook worm entered children’s feet and caused anaemia especially in the hot, steamy sugar districts. Mosquitoes also infected Queensland people. In Cairns, Dr Edward Albert Koch who was born and qualified in medicine in Germany, was in charge of the Cairns hospital from 1882-99. He was an early convert to the idea that mosquitoes causes malaria and other diseases. His ‘fever remedy’ and preventative measures helped to control malaria in far North Queensland in the late nineteenth. The grateful community erected a memorial to him in Cairns.  In the mid-1970s it was moved from its location at the corner of Abbott and Spence Street to the nearby Anzac Memorial Park.

Collection of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland image 70146

'Those in the town were apathetic as to what happened in the bush, and the people in the bush knew no better, and were content to leave things as they were.

Protestant Unity commune, near Pomona, with road (current Bruce Highway) running through centre.

Collection of William Metcalf

Collection of William Metcalf

Photograph of Mizpah commune members who pose in front of their storehouse which is under construction, Queenslander 7 April 1894. Collection of William Metcalf

Collection of William Metcalf

Sketch of a family who pose in front of their home on the Mizpah commune, near Chinchilla, Queenslander, 7 April 1894. Collection of William Metcalf

Collection of William Metcalf

Members of Nil Desperandum commune, on Yalebone Creek, south of Roma, assemble for a photograph. Collection of Lionel Coxen, Toowoomba

Collection of Lionel Coxen, Toowoomba

Members of Excel Pioneers commune, on Yalebone Creek, south of Roma, relax in front of their communal dining-room. Collection of Lionel Coxen, Toowoomba

Collection of Lionel Coxen, Toowoomba

Members of Mandala, a contemporary intentional community (established 1975) near Warwick, relax in front of one of their buildings in 1995.

Collection of William Metcalf

Collection of William Metcalf

Sketch of Alice River Dairy, 1893. The communards built this stone building, with thatched roof, to cool milk and store it before selling to Barcaldine people.

Collection of William Metcalf

Sketch of members of the Alice River commune, near Barcaldine, in front of their communal dining room, 1892. Queenslander, 18 March 1893. Collection of William Metcalf

Collection of William Metcalf
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