Channel Island Centenary - Quarantine Station to Leprosarium 1914-1955
THE CASCADE OF CONTAGION
Overland Telegraph linesmen discovered gold whilst digging postholes near Pine Creek in 1870. The need for mining labour prompted the proposal to introduce Chinese coolies in 1874. The Chinese brought leprosy which was first observed in 3 cases in 1884 at Port Darwin and the commencement of quarantining of lepers on Goat Island in the Blackmore River. By 1888 there were quarantine hulks in Port Darwin and declared Quarantine Waters. The north of Australia faced the spectre of Cholera & Smallpox and in 1900 plague came to Sydney town. Following the transfer of control of the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth in 1911, a Quarantine Station was erected on Channel Island in 1914 and was used once during the Spanish Flu epidemic after the First World War. The advent of international air travel and after a cholera scare - a new Quarantine Station was created at East Arm on the mainland and the old station made ready to receive the lepers who had subsisted on Mud Island despite public outcry at the conditions. In 1934 the Quarantine Station was equipped with a laboratory to test blood serum against the threat of smallpox and yellow fever being introduced by passengers & crew prior to the arrival of the first England-Australia air mail.
Successive waves of epidemics ran through the missions, influenza, whooping cough and pneumonia. Cases of Venereal Disease amongst half-caste women were quarantined. The imperative to isolate & segregate those with communicable diseases is a difficult and emotive issue even with today's medical advancements. The requirement to remove non-infected children of leprosarium inmates is especially hard. However, the situation should be seen against the norms of the day, the vulnerability of remote communities - the general level of health services in Port Darwin, on the mines & missions - and the normal living conditions of Chinese and part-Aboriginal fringe dwellers. It is apparent that there was a great deal of care and concern in the community which routinely raised funds for those in the leprosarium as well as relentless lobbying of Government. There were also many dedicated staff and service providers who went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that supplies reached the island and to the effect the rescue of emergency cases.
Some illustrative newspaper cuttings:-
Overland Telegraph linesmen discovered gold whilst digging postholes near Pine Creek in 1870. The need for mining labour prompted the proposal to introduce Chinese coolies in 1874. The Chinese brought leprosy which was first observed in 3 cases in 1884 at Port Darwin and the commencement of quarantining of lepers on Goat Island in the Blackmore River. By 1888 there were quarantine hulks in Port Darwin and declared Quarantine Waters. The north of Australia faced the spectre of Cholera & Smallpox and in 1900 plague came to Sydney town. Following the transfer of control of the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth in 1911, a Quarantine Station was erected on Channel Island in 1914 and was used once during the Spanish Flu epidemic after the First World War. The advent of international air travel and after a cholera scare - a new Quarantine Station was created at East Arm on the mainland and the old station made ready to receive the lepers who had subsisted on Mud Island despite public outcry at the conditions. In 1934 the Quarantine Station was equipped with a laboratory to test blood serum against the threat of smallpox and yellow fever being introduced by passengers & crew prior to the arrival of the first England-Australia air mail.
Successive waves of epidemics ran through the missions, influenza, whooping cough and pneumonia. Cases of Venereal Disease amongst half-caste women were quarantined. The imperative to isolate & segregate those with communicable diseases is a difficult and emotive issue even with today's medical advancements. The requirement to remove non-infected children of leprosarium inmates is especially hard. However, the situation should be seen against the norms of the day, the vulnerability of remote communities - the general level of health services in Port Darwin, on the mines & missions - and the normal living conditions of Chinese and part-Aboriginal fringe dwellers. It is apparent that there was a great deal of care and concern in the community which routinely raised funds for those in the leprosarium as well as relentless lobbying of Government. There were also many dedicated staff and service providers who went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that supplies reached the island and to the effect the rescue of emergency cases.
Some illustrative newspaper cuttings:-
The
Queenslander Saturday 4 July 1874
Port Darwin. The arrangements which are being made for the introduction of coolie labour are giving encouragement to mining employers, who are favourable on the whole to the introduction of coolies...... As yet no preparations have been made here for the reception of coolies—either in quarantine or otherwise—yet it is quite time, we should think, that something of the sort were commenced.
South Australian Register Saturday 11 February 1888
QUARANTINE AT PORT DARWIN
Mr. Adcock and the crew of the launch Maggie were fumigated and released from quarantine to-day. The patient reported from the Tartar yesterday morning died last night. The agents of the Tartar are endeavouring to arrange for the transfer of the Tsinau passengers from the hulks to Channel Island Quarantine Station and the Tartar passengers to the hulks.
South Australian Register Monday 13 February 1888
QUARANTINE AT PORT DARWIN.
The Local Board of Health are holding meetings daily, and corresponding vigorously with the Government, urging the transference of the Tsinau's passengers from the hulks to the Quarantine Station, and the Tartar's passengers to the hulks. The Government decline to permit the Tsinau's passengers to land at the station till the 13th, when, sufficient time will have elapsed to be tolerably certain that they are free from the chance of a fresh outbreak. The Quarantine Station is not ready to receive inmates. The Tannadice is rumoured to have had smallpox among the passengers at Surabaya.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette Saturday 14 April 1888
Additional Quarantine Waters.
The following waters have been proclaimed a Quarantine Station under Quarantine Act of 1877. A line drawn from King's Table north thirty-one degrees east, intersected by a line from South Shell Island north fifty-four degrees west. A line drawn from North Shell Island south thirty-four degrees west, intersected by a line from a point south-east of Point Emery, usually called Point Elliot on land chart, south fifty-six degrees east, Bearings are magnetic.
The Quarantine Act of 1877, and of all other powers me enabling, I, the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, do by this my proclamation, notify that..... all ships or vessels arriving in the Northern Territory of this province from any port in China or Chinese dependencies, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Timor, or any port or island in Netherlands-India, whether arriving direct, or after having called at intermediate, ports or places, and all boats having received any person or thing, from such ships or vessels, and all persons, goods, wares, merchandise, and other articles whatsoever, coming or brought in,or being on board such ships, vessels, or boats, shall be liable to quarantine within the meaning of the said Act, and shall, in every case, be detained, and be ordered to such quarantine station, Port Darwin, as may be directed by the Health Officer in the said Northern Territory.
Quarantine on vessels arriving from any of the ports mentioned in the above proclamation, will accordingly be required at Port Darwin for twenty one days after arrival, except as regards persons not being Chinese arriving by vessels having no disease on board, who will be granted immediate pratique if not from Hong Kong. A poll-tax of ten pounds per head will be imposed, subject to Parliamentary sanction, on all Chinese arriving in the Northern Territory, and having left therefor after the 1st of March, 1888.
The Register Wednesday 24 September 1919
A DEATH IN QUARANTINE.
DARWIN. September 23.
A Malay quartermaster, who was one of four influenza patients from the steamer Eastern, which was quarantined at Darwin on arrival from Hong Kong on September 15, died yesterday at the Channel Island Quarantine Station.
The Register Tuesday 2 December 1919
DARWIN TOPICS. DARWIN, December 1.
Two Chinese influenza patients, who were landed here from the steamer St. Albans and afterwards sent to the Channel Island Quarantine Station, with 15 contacts from the premises of the Toey Sing Loong Company, were released from quarantine to-day. While in quarantine every one of the contacts contracted the epidemic. A number of aborigines isolated in the compound are said to be sick with influenza. Among the Darwin residents the Mayor (Mr. Toupein) is laid up.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Monday 8 October 1928
DARWIN ITEMS
A case of smallpox has been removed to the quarantine station across the harbour. Residents of the police paddock area, from which the Malay patient was taken, stated they had either to submit to vaccination or be quarantined.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 14 July 1937
There are still 21 women shut up in the Quarantine Station, some of whom have been there for months, and who have no idea when they will be released. The application for the release of the Takachiho Maru, captured by the Larrakia, has been refused by the Administrator, and an appeal now lies in the Supreme Court. The master of the arrested vessel, Captain Oka-maura, has been sent for, and it on his way to Japan to obtain the necessary passports, papers, etc., to enable him to return and make his appeal. The question of salvage is to be gone into, and If there are any grounds for it, the Government may be asked to pay one-third the cost of the Larrakia, on account of the long tow given that vessel by the Seicho Maru and the Takachiho Maru. The case, when it does come off, will certainly be one of enthralling interest.
Port Darwin. The arrangements which are being made for the introduction of coolie labour are giving encouragement to mining employers, who are favourable on the whole to the introduction of coolies...... As yet no preparations have been made here for the reception of coolies—either in quarantine or otherwise—yet it is quite time, we should think, that something of the sort were commenced.
South Australian Register Saturday 11 February 1888
QUARANTINE AT PORT DARWIN
Mr. Adcock and the crew of the launch Maggie were fumigated and released from quarantine to-day. The patient reported from the Tartar yesterday morning died last night. The agents of the Tartar are endeavouring to arrange for the transfer of the Tsinau passengers from the hulks to Channel Island Quarantine Station and the Tartar passengers to the hulks.
South Australian Register Monday 13 February 1888
QUARANTINE AT PORT DARWIN.
The Local Board of Health are holding meetings daily, and corresponding vigorously with the Government, urging the transference of the Tsinau's passengers from the hulks to the Quarantine Station, and the Tartar's passengers to the hulks. The Government decline to permit the Tsinau's passengers to land at the station till the 13th, when, sufficient time will have elapsed to be tolerably certain that they are free from the chance of a fresh outbreak. The Quarantine Station is not ready to receive inmates. The Tannadice is rumoured to have had smallpox among the passengers at Surabaya.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette Saturday 14 April 1888
Additional Quarantine Waters.
The following waters have been proclaimed a Quarantine Station under Quarantine Act of 1877. A line drawn from King's Table north thirty-one degrees east, intersected by a line from South Shell Island north fifty-four degrees west. A line drawn from North Shell Island south thirty-four degrees west, intersected by a line from a point south-east of Point Emery, usually called Point Elliot on land chart, south fifty-six degrees east, Bearings are magnetic.
The Quarantine Act of 1877, and of all other powers me enabling, I, the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, do by this my proclamation, notify that..... all ships or vessels arriving in the Northern Territory of this province from any port in China or Chinese dependencies, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Timor, or any port or island in Netherlands-India, whether arriving direct, or after having called at intermediate, ports or places, and all boats having received any person or thing, from such ships or vessels, and all persons, goods, wares, merchandise, and other articles whatsoever, coming or brought in,or being on board such ships, vessels, or boats, shall be liable to quarantine within the meaning of the said Act, and shall, in every case, be detained, and be ordered to such quarantine station, Port Darwin, as may be directed by the Health Officer in the said Northern Territory.
Quarantine on vessels arriving from any of the ports mentioned in the above proclamation, will accordingly be required at Port Darwin for twenty one days after arrival, except as regards persons not being Chinese arriving by vessels having no disease on board, who will be granted immediate pratique if not from Hong Kong. A poll-tax of ten pounds per head will be imposed, subject to Parliamentary sanction, on all Chinese arriving in the Northern Territory, and having left therefor after the 1st of March, 1888.
The Register Wednesday 24 September 1919
A DEATH IN QUARANTINE.
DARWIN. September 23.
A Malay quartermaster, who was one of four influenza patients from the steamer Eastern, which was quarantined at Darwin on arrival from Hong Kong on September 15, died yesterday at the Channel Island Quarantine Station.
The Register Tuesday 2 December 1919
DARWIN TOPICS. DARWIN, December 1.
Two Chinese influenza patients, who were landed here from the steamer St. Albans and afterwards sent to the Channel Island Quarantine Station, with 15 contacts from the premises of the Toey Sing Loong Company, were released from quarantine to-day. While in quarantine every one of the contacts contracted the epidemic. A number of aborigines isolated in the compound are said to be sick with influenza. Among the Darwin residents the Mayor (Mr. Toupein) is laid up.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Monday 8 October 1928
DARWIN ITEMS
A case of smallpox has been removed to the quarantine station across the harbour. Residents of the police paddock area, from which the Malay patient was taken, stated they had either to submit to vaccination or be quarantined.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 14 July 1937
There are still 21 women shut up in the Quarantine Station, some of whom have been there for months, and who have no idea when they will be released. The application for the release of the Takachiho Maru, captured by the Larrakia, has been refused by the Administrator, and an appeal now lies in the Supreme Court. The master of the arrested vessel, Captain Oka-maura, has been sent for, and it on his way to Japan to obtain the necessary passports, papers, etc., to enable him to return and make his appeal. The question of salvage is to be gone into, and If there are any grounds for it, the Government may be asked to pay one-third the cost of the Larrakia, on account of the long tow given that vessel by the Seicho Maru and the Takachiho Maru. The case, when it does come off, will certainly be one of enthralling interest.
Quarantine & Leprosariums (Lazarettes)

Potted History
Channel Island was established as a quarantine station in 1914. The government resolved to confine all people with leprosy in Northern Australia to the facility in the 1920’s and the quarantine station was converted into a leprosarium in the 1930’s. A new Quarantine Station being built at East Arm on the mainland.
A total of 443 leprosy sufferers were recorded as being admitted to Channel Island, of which 142 died and were buried on the island. For inter-lazaret transfers see below.
The Leprosarium was closed in 1955 & all patients transferred to East Arm Leprosarium on the mainland - adjacent to the new Quarantine Station. The old buildings were abandoned or transferred to Bathurst Island Mission.
LEPERS IN PALMERSTON (Darwin)
North Australian Friday 4 January 1884
"we hear that the two doctors {Morice & Woods}, acting on thc advice of Mr. G. B. McMinn, in company with Corporal Montagu and the Clerk of the District Council, paid a visit to the lepers, and both are sanguine as to the disease being leprosy. {The last suspected Chinese patient} No. 3 (who was out at the time of our visit) appears to show the worst symptoms of any, and differs from the others by the fact of having his fingers bent in a clutching position. The doctors agree that there is no danger of the disease spreading except by being inoculated into the blood somehow or other. Nevertheless, we believe precautions will be taken, and the lepers removed to some isolated place, where they will be attended to at Government expense".
- Goat Island Leper Station 1884 - 1889
- Mud Island Leper Station 1889 -1931
- Channel Island Quarantine Station 1914 - 1931
- Channel Island Leprosarium 1931 - 1955
- East Arm Quarantine Station 1931 - 1951
- East Arm Leprosarium 1955 to 1982
Channel Island was established as a quarantine station in 1914. The government resolved to confine all people with leprosy in Northern Australia to the facility in the 1920’s and the quarantine station was converted into a leprosarium in the 1930’s. A new Quarantine Station being built at East Arm on the mainland.
A total of 443 leprosy sufferers were recorded as being admitted to Channel Island, of which 142 died and were buried on the island. For inter-lazaret transfers see below.
The Leprosarium was closed in 1955 & all patients transferred to East Arm Leprosarium on the mainland - adjacent to the new Quarantine Station. The old buildings were abandoned or transferred to Bathurst Island Mission.
LEPERS IN PALMERSTON (Darwin)
North Australian Friday 4 January 1884
"we hear that the two doctors {Morice & Woods}, acting on thc advice of Mr. G. B. McMinn, in company with Corporal Montagu and the Clerk of the District Council, paid a visit to the lepers, and both are sanguine as to the disease being leprosy. {The last suspected Chinese patient} No. 3 (who was out at the time of our visit) appears to show the worst symptoms of any, and differs from the others by the fact of having his fingers bent in a clutching position. The doctors agree that there is no danger of the disease spreading except by being inoculated into the blood somehow or other. Nevertheless, we believe precautions will be taken, and the lepers removed to some isolated place, where they will be attended to at Government expense".
Goat Island - Blackmore River

Goat Island is at the mouth of the Blackmore River which runs up to Southport. It was from here that access was gained to the gold and tin fields before the advent of the railway.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette Saturday 12 February 1876
It may be remembered by some of the older residents that Captain Douglas turned some goats adrift on an island at the mouth of the Blackmore, and in consequence it has been called Goat Island.
North Australian Friday 1 May 1885
At last ! The leper king of Goat Island is dead as a door knob, and now the Government will probably be able to find time and money to look after our war defences. The poor unfortunate wretch we presume, died from the effects of his disease. Howard, the boatmen who took over his supply of rations, missed him upon his last trip, and on looking into his hut found the leper lying dead. We believe the Chinaman's remains were burned.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette Saturday 12 February 1876
It may be remembered by some of the older residents that Captain Douglas turned some goats adrift on an island at the mouth of the Blackmore, and in consequence it has been called Goat Island.
North Australian Friday 1 May 1885
At last ! The leper king of Goat Island is dead as a door knob, and now the Government will probably be able to find time and money to look after our war defences. The poor unfortunate wretch we presume, died from the effects of his disease. Howard, the boatmen who took over his supply of rations, missed him upon his last trip, and on looking into his hut found the leper lying dead. We believe the Chinaman's remains were burned.
Mud Island Leprosarium

Mud Island was proclaimed a place of quarantine for people suffering from leprosy by the Government Resident of the Northern Territory in 1889.
The first cases of leprosy in Northern Australia were amongst the Chinese population. Chinese people suffering from leprosy were isolated on Mud Island, Goat Island in the Adelaide River, or at the quarantine ground on Channel Island, until repatriated to China. Some remained in isolation until death.
The Northern Territory Times and Gazette of 4 January 1907 quoted Doctor W Ramsey Smith's report on the Northern Territory: The Leper Station at Port Darwin is unsuitable for any being of the human species.
The lazaret consisted of a single galvanised iron building with a veranda and a dirt floor. There was no fresh water supply apart from rain water tanks that were filled during the wet season. Treatment consisted of a weekly visit from a health officer.
The first cases of leprosy in Northern Australia were amongst the Chinese population. Chinese people suffering from leprosy were isolated on Mud Island, Goat Island in the Adelaide River, or at the quarantine ground on Channel Island, until repatriated to China. Some remained in isolation until death.
The Northern Territory Times and Gazette of 4 January 1907 quoted Doctor W Ramsey Smith's report on the Northern Territory: The Leper Station at Port Darwin is unsuitable for any being of the human species.
The lazaret consisted of a single galvanised iron building with a veranda and a dirt floor. There was no fresh water supply apart from rain water tanks that were filled during the wet season. Treatment consisted of a weekly visit from a health officer.
In 1920, after the death of one of its inhabitants, only five people remained at the colony, four Chinese suffering from leprosy & one Aboriginal man who was the 'officer in charge'. It was reported that both the man who died & the officer in charge had attempted escape from the island & been captured and returned. Between 1920 and 1927 there was an average of 11 inmates. Most were Aboriginal or Chinese & included women and men. It is unclear whether any children were also isolated on Mud Island. By the mid 1920s papers had begun to refer to the Mud Island Leper Station as the 'Living Hell Lazaret'.
It was reported that an 11 year old girl with leprosy was found to be residing at an NT Mission Station and was ordered to be sent to Mud Island. The Mission authorities refused to send the girl to the lazaret and obtained permission to isolate the girl at the mission. The fact that Government policy at the time was to send children with leprosy to the lazaret makes it very likely that some children were sent to Mud Island during the 42 years of its operation.
Mud Island Lazaret closed in 1931 when the new Channel Island Leprosarium was opened. By 2013 Middle Arm was known as Wickham Point and was the location of the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre. (Extract from Find & Connect)
It was reported that an 11 year old girl with leprosy was found to be residing at an NT Mission Station and was ordered to be sent to Mud Island. The Mission authorities refused to send the girl to the lazaret and obtained permission to isolate the girl at the mission. The fact that Government policy at the time was to send children with leprosy to the lazaret makes it very likely that some children were sent to Mud Island during the 42 years of its operation.
Mud Island Lazaret closed in 1931 when the new Channel Island Leprosarium was opened. By 2013 Middle Arm was known as Wickham Point and was the location of the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre. (Extract from Find & Connect)
{Extract from Disease & Quarantine in Northern Australia see Pdf below}
For several years public attention and condemnation continued causing the government considerable embarrassment. The urgent need for reappraisal of the leprosy policy and for increased expenditure was realised but bureaucratic indecisiveness kept leprosy patients on Mud Island for a further six years. In 1931 the move to Channel Island was made, opening a new era full of hope and promise for leprosy patients in the Northern Territory. (Saunders, 1989)
- There was no resident medical staff, although from 1922 patients who wanted it did receive treatment from a visiting doctor.
- There were 26 escapes between 1923 and 1927 and the fate of the escapees is unknown. If Aboriginal patients ever made it back to their homelands, they certainly didn't advertise the fact.
- There were no toilets, washing facilities or means of disposing of garbage. Sanitation was at the most primitive level.
- Patients buried those patients who succumbed to the disease.
- There is no record of how many died there or where they were buried over the forty-two years that Mud Island was used.
- Around 1925 there was a gradual change in the public's attitude. The people of Australia were becoming aware of the situation on Mud Island through the media and the efforts of concerned Territorians and church missions.
For several years public attention and condemnation continued causing the government considerable embarrassment. The urgent need for reappraisal of the leprosy policy and for increased expenditure was realised but bureaucratic indecisiveness kept leprosy patients on Mud Island for a further six years. In 1931 the move to Channel Island was made, opening a new era full of hope and promise for leprosy patients in the Northern Territory. (Saunders, 1989)
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Channel Island Quarantine Station 1914 -1931

Captain Collett Barker reported seeing a Macassan Prau master 'Domang' with leprosy at Port Essington in May 1829 and whilst the Macassan trade had declined with the nineteenth century, the influx of Chinese miners raised a significant threat from transmission of infectious diseases resident in SE Asia.
Bubonic plague had broken out in Burketown in 1866 carried from the New Hebrides by Kanakas bound for the Queensland canefields aboard the one time blackbirder the Lalla Rookh. Public health awareness sharpened with the plague's appearance in Sydney early in 1900 & repeatedly thereafter to spur the slum clearances of the Rocks area and improve water separation & sanitation.
Whilst Channel Island had long been used as quarantine ground, no permanent structures were erected prior to the Northern Territory coming under the control of the Commonwealth Government in 1909.
Channel Island was provisioned by boat. In 1914 a rubble and concrete jetty was constructed and remains a prominent feature today. Construction began on three substantial buildings, a medical clinic and two wards, one for men and one for women. The station was much ridiculed and little utilised in the early 1900s but did see service in quarantining patients with influenza between 1918 and 1920.
The three buildings {Image above from left - Men's Ward, Clinic, Women's Ward} formed the hub of the later leprosarium. The twin header tanks & cistern (image below), as well as gutter tanks testify to the scarcity of groundwater. This was a systemic problem for the leprosarium alleviated by deliveries from Darwin which itself lacked a reticulated water supply until it became necessary to garrison the town in the late 1930's.
Bubonic plague had broken out in Burketown in 1866 carried from the New Hebrides by Kanakas bound for the Queensland canefields aboard the one time blackbirder the Lalla Rookh. Public health awareness sharpened with the plague's appearance in Sydney early in 1900 & repeatedly thereafter to spur the slum clearances of the Rocks area and improve water separation & sanitation.
Whilst Channel Island had long been used as quarantine ground, no permanent structures were erected prior to the Northern Territory coming under the control of the Commonwealth Government in 1909.
Channel Island was provisioned by boat. In 1914 a rubble and concrete jetty was constructed and remains a prominent feature today. Construction began on three substantial buildings, a medical clinic and two wards, one for men and one for women. The station was much ridiculed and little utilised in the early 1900s but did see service in quarantining patients with influenza between 1918 and 1920.
The three buildings {Image above from left - Men's Ward, Clinic, Women's Ward} formed the hub of the later leprosarium. The twin header tanks & cistern (image below), as well as gutter tanks testify to the scarcity of groundwater. This was a systemic problem for the leprosarium alleviated by deliveries from Darwin which itself lacked a reticulated water supply until it became necessary to garrison the town in the late 1930's.
Channel Island Leprosarium

Potted History
1885 A Chinese leper quarantined on the island pre deportation.
1890 Last report of Chinese lepers on the island.
1930 Living Quarters built for MR & Mrs Jennison (1st Superintendent/Curator & Matron)
1931 Buildings refurbished - 8 Leper Huts built - Leprosarium opened.
1937 Cyclone damage to buildings.
1943 Catholic Sisters take over nursing duties following Japanese raids & evacuation of staff.
1950's Screening identifies cases which leads to overcrowding & temporary buildings.
1952 There were 6 nursing sisters - 200 residents inc. 45 children
1955 Closed - moved to East Arm.
Northern Standard Friday 5 June 1925
Dr. Cecil Cook, who is upon a tour of research on behalf of the London School of Tropical Medicine, and for the Commonwealth Government, has been successful in discovering a number of lepers who have been roaming about at their own sweet will for years past. He has also been instrumental in doing many things that that awful travesty upon the public payroll, the Northern Territory Department of Public Health neglected to do, including an appreciable improvement in the more cleanly handling of foodstuffs - though there is yet much to be done. The outrageous treatment of lepers in sending them over to the leper station near Channel Island, infested with mosquitoes and sandflies, but from which they can walk on to the mainland at low tide, it is to be hoped, has received Dr. Cook's attention. Nothing can reasonably be expected from any other source, or it would have been done years ago. (Trove)
"Though treatment formerly accorded aboriginal lepers at the Living Hell Lazaret on the sand spit at Mud Island were notoriously shameful, the conditions at the new lazaret at Channel Island on the site of the old white elephant quarantine station leave little to be desired. There is a thousand gallon tank attached to each of the eight huts for aboriginals as well as water being laid on to each hut from the main supply. The huts are stated to have doors on each side, and plenty of windows…" - {It is noted that the accommodation may be compared to that on missions at the time, i.e. non-existent & that whilst metal buildings get hot during they day - when unoccupied - they cool down rapidly in the evening. Fly screens effective against sand flies were decades in the future}.
The new leprosarium was operating by August 1931, caring for approximately 14 Aboriginal and Chinese patients. In October 1931 a boatload of patients from the Western Australian 'Cossack Lazaret' arrived and took up residence. All were Aboriginal with the exception of one Afghan man. They were accompanied by the superintendent of the Cossack Lazaret, Mr Lewyer. There was only one 'white' patient at this time and he occupied 'a nice room … equipped with every possible comfort'. By 1932 it was reported that at least two Aboriginal children were living at the leprosarium.
Two weeks after the cyclone, newspapers reported the first 'white child', a 16 year old girl, being sent to the leprosarium along with her father who also suffered from the disease. By this time the number of patients on the island had grown to 130. Later in 1937 a number of Aboriginal people from a settlement on Groote Island were also brought to the leprosarium after that community was 'devastated' by leprosy.
A launch from Darwin twice a week brings supplies of fresh food. Patients are allowed visitors, they receive letters and send them, the outgoing mail being fumigated. The half-caste girls make their own frocks, and delight in fashioning dresses for the smaller children.
A Darwin contractor (Leo Izod's father) who shipped water to the island was reported in the newspaper in 1949 describing conditions at the leprosarium as 'ghastly'. He said that there were 150 patients on the island including many small children and that they were living 'under the most primitive and insanitary conditions.'
The island has one 'hospital', a dilapidated building totally unsuited for tropics. It is not even fitted with fly-wire for protection … This hospital is built within a few yards of the communal kitchen. This, too, is not protected from flies . . . And there are millions of sandflies, blow flies, march flies, and house flies round the buildings. Dormitories have been built a few yards away for the single patients. Most of the married black couples live in Government-built corrugated iron huts.
Channel Island remained in operation until 1955 when the new mainland East Arm Leprosarium was completed and opened. It was adjacent to the Quarantine Station - the WWII Catalina Base and Z Special Unit LMS Base. All of which have been or are in the process of being demolished to make way for Darwin's new port facilities.
1885 A Chinese leper quarantined on the island pre deportation.
1890 Last report of Chinese lepers on the island.
1930 Living Quarters built for MR & Mrs Jennison (1st Superintendent/Curator & Matron)
1931 Buildings refurbished - 8 Leper Huts built - Leprosarium opened.
1937 Cyclone damage to buildings.
1943 Catholic Sisters take over nursing duties following Japanese raids & evacuation of staff.
1950's Screening identifies cases which leads to overcrowding & temporary buildings.
1952 There were 6 nursing sisters - 200 residents inc. 45 children
1955 Closed - moved to East Arm.
Northern Standard Friday 5 June 1925
Dr. Cecil Cook, who is upon a tour of research on behalf of the London School of Tropical Medicine, and for the Commonwealth Government, has been successful in discovering a number of lepers who have been roaming about at their own sweet will for years past. He has also been instrumental in doing many things that that awful travesty upon the public payroll, the Northern Territory Department of Public Health neglected to do, including an appreciable improvement in the more cleanly handling of foodstuffs - though there is yet much to be done. The outrageous treatment of lepers in sending them over to the leper station near Channel Island, infested with mosquitoes and sandflies, but from which they can walk on to the mainland at low tide, it is to be hoped, has received Dr. Cook's attention. Nothing can reasonably be expected from any other source, or it would have been done years ago. (Trove)
"Though treatment formerly accorded aboriginal lepers at the Living Hell Lazaret on the sand spit at Mud Island were notoriously shameful, the conditions at the new lazaret at Channel Island on the site of the old white elephant quarantine station leave little to be desired. There is a thousand gallon tank attached to each of the eight huts for aboriginals as well as water being laid on to each hut from the main supply. The huts are stated to have doors on each side, and plenty of windows…" - {It is noted that the accommodation may be compared to that on missions at the time, i.e. non-existent & that whilst metal buildings get hot during they day - when unoccupied - they cool down rapidly in the evening. Fly screens effective against sand flies were decades in the future}.
The new leprosarium was operating by August 1931, caring for approximately 14 Aboriginal and Chinese patients. In October 1931 a boatload of patients from the Western Australian 'Cossack Lazaret' arrived and took up residence. All were Aboriginal with the exception of one Afghan man. They were accompanied by the superintendent of the Cossack Lazaret, Mr Lewyer. There was only one 'white' patient at this time and he occupied 'a nice room … equipped with every possible comfort'. By 1932 it was reported that at least two Aboriginal children were living at the leprosarium.
Two weeks after the cyclone, newspapers reported the first 'white child', a 16 year old girl, being sent to the leprosarium along with her father who also suffered from the disease. By this time the number of patients on the island had grown to 130. Later in 1937 a number of Aboriginal people from a settlement on Groote Island were also brought to the leprosarium after that community was 'devastated' by leprosy.
A launch from Darwin twice a week brings supplies of fresh food. Patients are allowed visitors, they receive letters and send them, the outgoing mail being fumigated. The half-caste girls make their own frocks, and delight in fashioning dresses for the smaller children.
A Darwin contractor (Leo Izod's father) who shipped water to the island was reported in the newspaper in 1949 describing conditions at the leprosarium as 'ghastly'. He said that there were 150 patients on the island including many small children and that they were living 'under the most primitive and insanitary conditions.'
The island has one 'hospital', a dilapidated building totally unsuited for tropics. It is not even fitted with fly-wire for protection … This hospital is built within a few yards of the communal kitchen. This, too, is not protected from flies . . . And there are millions of sandflies, blow flies, march flies, and house flies round the buildings. Dormitories have been built a few yards away for the single patients. Most of the married black couples live in Government-built corrugated iron huts.
Channel Island remained in operation until 1955 when the new mainland East Arm Leprosarium was completed and opened. It was adjacent to the Quarantine Station - the WWII Catalina Base and Z Special Unit LMS Base. All of which have been or are in the process of being demolished to make way for Darwin's new port facilities.
North side of Channel Island
Curator's Quarters & Other Buildings
The Wards
East Arm Quarantine Station 1931 - 1951

News
(Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954) Wednesday 25 September 1929
SAVAGE SANIFLIES
TOO MUCH FOR WORKMEN
Darwin Quarantine Area
DARWIN, Today. The choice of a site for the new quarantine station across the harbor at Darwin (about 17 miles distant by road) appears likely to prove an unfortunate one. After enduring sandflies and other pests for some weeks the workmen employed by the contractor have refused to camp upon the site. They are now being taken there and back daily by a motor launch. The contract price for the new station is £6,800.
Judging by the experiences of the workmen, prospects for the comfort of travellers who may be detained at the new station and for the resident caretaker are not alluring. The old quarantine station, which was erected about 15 years ago at a cost of approximately £3,200, will be converted into a lazaret.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 17 January 1934
New Quarantine Station.
A new quarantine station and medical laboratories, equipped with the latest apparatus for testing the blood serums of persons suspected of carrying dangerous diseases, will be erected shortly at Darwin at a cost of nearly £10,000. In making this announcement today, Mr. C W. C Merr, said the new quarantine facilities would be completed before the arrival of the first England-Australia air mail. A station already existed at Darwin, but an extension was necessary to prevent yellow fever, smallpox, and other contagious diseases being brought into the Commonwealth by passengers and air mail crews.
The Daily News (Perth, WA) Wednesday 14 October 1936
Smallpox At Darwin
A case of smallpox was discovered on the Marella today among the ship's engineers, so the patient was removed to the quarantine station at Darwin. This is the first occasion that the station has been used since its erection.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 14 July 1937
There are still 21 women shut up in the Quarantine Station, some of whom have been there for months, and who have no idea when they will be released. The application for the release of the Takachiho Maru, captured by the Larrakia, has been refused by the Administrator, and an appeal now lies in the Supreme Court. The master of the arrested vessel, Captain Okamaura, has been sent for, and it on his way to Japan to obtain the necessary passports, papers, etc., to enable him to return and make his appeal. The question of salvage is to be gone into, and If there are any grounds for it, the Government may be asked to pay one-third the cost of the Larrakia, on account of the long tow given that vessel by the Seicho Maru and the Takachiho Maru. The case, when it does come off, will certainly be one of enthralling interest.
News (Adelaide, SA) Thursday 14 October 1937
KEEN TO SEE WILL ROGERS Girls Run From Quarantine DARWIN, Thursday. Will Rogers, film star, is claimed to be largely responsible for a scare which kept the police and medical officers of Darwin out of bed last night. Advice was received from the quarantine station about 8 o'clock that 14 half-caste girls afflicted with an infectious disease had escaped. Alarm was raised, as these girls had been segregated after months of patient work by the medical service in an endeavour to stamp out the disease. Every available policeman was called out, and about midnight, after the entire town and surrounding district had been scoured, 13 of the runaways were captured. Seven of them gave no trouble. They walked into the police station soon after 11 o'clock, and asked for a lift home. They denied that they had been to the pictures, but they admitted, with beaming smiles and one voice, that grand old Will Rogers was the hero of every one of them. They had been told that he was dead, and they had wanted to see his last picture, no matter what cost or risk was involved. One of the girls is still at large. The quartering of infectious diseases patients has caused the administration much concern recently. It is considered essential that all half-castes affected should be segregated, and the use of the quarantine station has been made for this purpose by agreement with the Commonwealth Health Department. This department, however, recently advised the Administrator (Mr. Abbott) that other accommodation would have to be found for the patients. Great difficulty will be experienced in finding a new home.
Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld.)Friday 31 October 1947
DARWIN HAS POOR QUARANTINE BASE. Darwin's Quarantine Station is uninhabitable, out of order, and not used and has been so since the war. Suspected carriers of disease who arrive in Darwin by sea or air can only be quarantined at the ordinary isolation ward in the Darwin General Hospital. Private doctors and a Health Department official said in Brisbane today, that this lack of facilities menaced Australia, with a spread of small pox or bubonic plague. The cholera suspect and the 29 passengers and the crew and contacts who arrived by air this week were carried through the town in a motor bus and Quartered at the hospital. Health officers have made repeated requests to the Commonwealth to put the Quarantine Station in order but no action has been taken.
Darwin Quarantine Area
DARWIN, Today. The choice of a site for the new quarantine station across the harbor at Darwin (about 17 miles distant by road) appears likely to prove an unfortunate one. After enduring sandflies and other pests for some weeks the workmen employed by the contractor have refused to camp upon the site. They are now being taken there and back daily by a motor launch. The contract price for the new station is £6,800.
Judging by the experiences of the workmen, prospects for the comfort of travellers who may be detained at the new station and for the resident caretaker are not alluring. The old quarantine station, which was erected about 15 years ago at a cost of approximately £3,200, will be converted into a lazaret.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 17 January 1934
New Quarantine Station.
A new quarantine station and medical laboratories, equipped with the latest apparatus for testing the blood serums of persons suspected of carrying dangerous diseases, will be erected shortly at Darwin at a cost of nearly £10,000. In making this announcement today, Mr. C W. C Merr, said the new quarantine facilities would be completed before the arrival of the first England-Australia air mail. A station already existed at Darwin, but an extension was necessary to prevent yellow fever, smallpox, and other contagious diseases being brought into the Commonwealth by passengers and air mail crews.
The Daily News (Perth, WA) Wednesday 14 October 1936
Smallpox At Darwin
A case of smallpox was discovered on the Marella today among the ship's engineers, so the patient was removed to the quarantine station at Darwin. This is the first occasion that the station has been used since its erection.
Townsville Daily Bulletin Wednesday 14 July 1937
There are still 21 women shut up in the Quarantine Station, some of whom have been there for months, and who have no idea when they will be released. The application for the release of the Takachiho Maru, captured by the Larrakia, has been refused by the Administrator, and an appeal now lies in the Supreme Court. The master of the arrested vessel, Captain Okamaura, has been sent for, and it on his way to Japan to obtain the necessary passports, papers, etc., to enable him to return and make his appeal. The question of salvage is to be gone into, and If there are any grounds for it, the Government may be asked to pay one-third the cost of the Larrakia, on account of the long tow given that vessel by the Seicho Maru and the Takachiho Maru. The case, when it does come off, will certainly be one of enthralling interest.
News (Adelaide, SA) Thursday 14 October 1937
KEEN TO SEE WILL ROGERS Girls Run From Quarantine DARWIN, Thursday. Will Rogers, film star, is claimed to be largely responsible for a scare which kept the police and medical officers of Darwin out of bed last night. Advice was received from the quarantine station about 8 o'clock that 14 half-caste girls afflicted with an infectious disease had escaped. Alarm was raised, as these girls had been segregated after months of patient work by the medical service in an endeavour to stamp out the disease. Every available policeman was called out, and about midnight, after the entire town and surrounding district had been scoured, 13 of the runaways were captured. Seven of them gave no trouble. They walked into the police station soon after 11 o'clock, and asked for a lift home. They denied that they had been to the pictures, but they admitted, with beaming smiles and one voice, that grand old Will Rogers was the hero of every one of them. They had been told that he was dead, and they had wanted to see his last picture, no matter what cost or risk was involved. One of the girls is still at large. The quartering of infectious diseases patients has caused the administration much concern recently. It is considered essential that all half-castes affected should be segregated, and the use of the quarantine station has been made for this purpose by agreement with the Commonwealth Health Department. This department, however, recently advised the Administrator (Mr. Abbott) that other accommodation would have to be found for the patients. Great difficulty will be experienced in finding a new home.
Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld.)Friday 31 October 1947
DARWIN HAS POOR QUARANTINE BASE. Darwin's Quarantine Station is uninhabitable, out of order, and not used and has been so since the war. Suspected carriers of disease who arrive in Darwin by sea or air can only be quarantined at the ordinary isolation ward in the Darwin General Hospital. Private doctors and a Health Department official said in Brisbane today, that this lack of facilities menaced Australia, with a spread of small pox or bubonic plague. The cholera suspect and the 29 passengers and the crew and contacts who arrived by air this week were carried through the town in a motor bus and Quartered at the hospital. Health officers have made repeated requests to the Commonwealth to put the Quarantine Station in order but no action has been taken.
Other Lazarettes
Texts -
A suitable island
site : leprosy in the Northern Territory and the Channel Island Leprosarium
1880-1955 / Suzanne Saunders.
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