Woodman Point Quarantine Station

Woodman Point Quarantine Station photograph taken at the year of John Carroll's death 1901

The Caretaker of Woodman Point Quarantine Station, John Carroll, lived on site with his wife, Elizabeth (nee Enner) and their large family from 1890-1901 and took the position of caretaker after the initial Officer in Charge John Hooley resigned 1893

He was appointed Acting Caretaker on 29 May 1890 having resigned his position as 1st Class Constable in the Police Force three months earlier. ( Police Record Page 1) ( Police Record Page 2)

John Carroll’s service at Woodman Point (formerly Woodman’s Point) coincided with worldwide smallpox and bubonic plague epidemics. The Blue Star Line vessel "Saladin" from Singapore was the direct cause of a smallpox epidemic in Perth in 1893. Forty-five year old William Miller from Roebourne was the only case from that vessel treated at Woodman Point. He died there on 21 April 1893, and holds the unfortunate official record of being the first person to die at Woodman Point.

The Fremantle Local Board of Health inserted a Public Notice into the ‘West Australian’ on 17 April 1893 authorising Mr Carroll to ‘ convey all persons with smallpox, or other contagious diseases,’ to the quarantine station. In May 1893, a gratuity of £10 was recommended to be paid to the duly appointed quarantine station Caretaker, and the cost of the epidemic to date noted as £350.

Fremantle Council objected to Woodman Point Quarantine Station taking Perth smallpox victims, claiming it would bring the disease to Fremantle. The Fremantle Board of Health, however moved that a proportion of Woodman Point Quarantine Station be allocated as the metropolitan burial ground for smallpox victims. Nevertheless, of the 25 people afflicted with the disease at that time, 23 were nursed in a tent hospital at Subiaco and most of the deceased were buried in a new cemetery at Subiaco.

Some years later, bubonic plague became a worldwide pandemic and cremations were occurring at Woodman Point from 1900 until 1906. A list of those who died from bubonic plague at Woodman Point, or who were brought there for cremation, is online. ( Register of Deaths, Burials and Cremations ) Local victims were infected from an infestation of rats in flour and timber mills and private dwellings. Infected corpses were placed in coffins with all their clothing, saturated with strong carbolic and following cremation, their remains were interred at cemetery attached to Woodman Point Quarantine Station hospital. Dr T. L. Anderson delivered 402 public inoculations from his office at Fremantle Town Hall up to the week ended 1 March 1903, and at the same time 278 rats had been examined, and 39 were found to be infected.

In 1901 (during the plague pandemic), John Carroll died from pneumonia at Woodman Point Quarantine Station. He was attended by Dr.T.L. Anderson and survived by his wife and nine of his twelve children.

John and Elizabeth's Marriage Certificate. dated 1895

Elizabeth Carroll's Death Certificate Dated 25th September 1905

Fremantle Cemetery records state that Elizabeth Carroll was buried in the Mon C. Grave No 236,
however, there is no mention of her name on any of the headstones. ( See cemetery details below )
Chesterfield was an early suburb adjoining Douro Road, south of Fremantle.
The suburb of Chesterfield south of Fremantle c1898.

Elizabeth Carroll. Died 25th September 1905

Daughters, Laura and May Carroll

John Carroll's Death Certificate. Dated 23 April 1901

Special thanks to Ms.Lauris Clifford
for assisting in historical information towards the Carroll Family Legacy Webpage.

If you can help with further information about this family, or with quarantine station history,
please email the webmaster at friends@woodmanpointquarantinestation.com