Woodman Point Quarantine Station

In 1833 the Colonial Secretary's Office published a Bill concerning quarantine on all arriving ships and cargo.The Bill stated that the Harbor Master had to be informed so that he could assign the affected ship to a mooring place.

The quarantine routine current at the time was as follows: If a ship arrived with a known case of infection aboard, the Health Officer sailed out to greet her, holding his consultation from a distance - hailing the ship (but not boarding her ) and throwing medication up to the stricken ship's deck. If he were to board her, he too would have to stay in quarantine. On the other hand, the pilot could board the ship to bring her to the required mooring and leave again to serve the next ship.

Woodman Point was named after Thomas Woodman, the purser onboard the vessel "Success ", when accompanied Capt. Stirling in 1827.
The first recorded use of Woodman Point for human quarantine was in January 1852, when 226 civilians and military personnel from the vessel " Anna Robertson " and who were suffering from Whooping Cough were landed on the beach at Woodman Point after previously being disembarked on Carnac Island. The movement from Carnac Island to Woodman Point was brought about because of fresh water, that was being transported from the mainland in wine casks being contaminated.

In 1876 ' The Herald ' leader criticised the Government for suggesting that a quarantine station be erected at Woodman Point. The editorial stated that Woodman Point was much too close to the township of Fremantle where strong prevailing winds would blow ' pestilence ' amongst the unfortunate citizens.
'The Herald ' strongly supported Carnac Island as a suitable place for a quarantine station.

In 1880 a Mr. G. Abbott requested he be permitted to take up 500 acres of the Quarantine Reserve at Woodman Point to extend his grazing lands. Permission was refused as this was the only land that had been set aside in 1876 for quarantine purposes.

In 1884 ' The Herald ' was still complaining of the lack of quarantine facilities. They had heard of an outbreak of smallpox in Mauritius and ships from there were expected into Fremantle at any time. Carnac Island, according to ' The Herald ' had been set aside as a quarantine station, but no buildings had yet appeared.

A year later the Public Works Department called for tenders for a Quarantine Station at Woodman Point. The successful tenders were Harwood & Son at a sum of 490 pounds sterling and building was completed in 1886 in the shadow of the failed settlement at Clarence.

Possibly the first people to use the quarantine buildings, that were erected between 1885 and 1886 by the Colony's Architectural Department, was on the 29th December 1886, when the ship Elderslie arrived at Fremantle with two cases of scarlet fever among the 127 passengers. Facilities at the Quarantine Station were unable to cope with this number and the Government engaged a cargo vessel, Cingalee, to provide additional quarantine conditions.

The Order stated, " His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to declare, direct, and order the barque Cingalee to be a place for the performance of quarantine by all persons and goods which have been transferred to that vessel from the Elderslie " By Command Acting Colonial Secretary.

Quarantine facilities were available in Albany, but only for one disease at a time. Asian crew members were not welcome and were put on a barge with a week's provisions.

Extensions were made to the Woodman Point Quarantine Station in 1901, including a tram line from the jetty via the fumigation house.

In 1908 the administration was transferred from the State to the Commonwealth.

During 1908, a smallpox scare involved passengers who joined the vessel G.M.S Seydlitz in Colombo, and they were removed to the Woodman Point Quarantine Station. Mr. F R Perrot, the United States Consul, who was returning from holidays, was among those also quarantined. The report stated that " the passengers will be released after the 15-day quarantine period. The authorities are determined to take every precaution to prevent the introduction of the dread disease into the State and until Colombo has been declared clean, all Colombo passengers will be placed in quarantine. " Details courtesy of The West Australian.

Buildings were updated and the station expanded during the First World War. It had been used for bubonic plague, smallpox, venereal disease, and 1918-19 saw victims of the Spanish flu being isolated at Woodman Point.

In 1919, the pneumonic flu epidemic claimed the lives of four of the nursing staff and all were originally buried at the Woodman Point Military Cemetery. Sister R. O' Kane and Civilian Nurse H. Williams are still buried in the cemetery at Woodman Point, however, Sister Ada Thompson and Staff Nurse Doris Ridgway were later exhumed from Woodman Point Military Cemetery and transferred to the Fremantle Metropolitan Cemetery and the Perth War Cemetery respectively.
All the nurses were from the vessel H.M.A.T.Wyreema.
This epidemic also claimed the lives of 29 Army personnel, of these, 13 were ex-servicemen from the vessel H.M.A.T Boonah, eleven of which were buried at the East Rockingham Cemetery, and 2 originally buried at the Woodman Point Military Cemetery, but later exhumed in 1958, and transferred to the Perth War Cemetery. The remaining 16 World War I Service personnel who died from the same epidemic, and who were also originally cremated and buried at the Woodman Point military Cemetery, were also reinterred at the Perth War Cemetery in 1958.

In 1943 five, possibly six, one being buried at sea, crewmen from the S.S. Suva died of smallpox, and were cremated at Woodman Point. Chief Officer Arthur Waters died 1st April 1943 and his remains were buried at the Woodman Point Military Cemetery, but later interred at Karrakatta Military Cemetery. The remaining four Fijian crewmen had their ashes buried in a single grave in the Military Cemetery at Woodman Point.
They being:
Ordinary Seaman, Samuela Waledau (23 years) died 30th March 1943
Ship's Cook, Eroni Builoto (25 Years) died 5th April 1943
Ship's Steward, Rasaca Cigilau (20 years) died 9th April 1943
Ordinary Seaman, Osea Toqova (20 years) died 11th April 1943

Medical records also show that eight other persons died in quarantine, but the whereabouts of the graves are unknown.

From then to the 1950's, the Quarantine Station was mostly occupied by people arriving in the State without valid smallpox or yellow fever certificates. Their accommodation was charged to the shipping or airline company which had overlooked the missing papers, and which had to hope to recoup their expenses later from the passengers themselves.

A recorded occurrence in the station's log book was when the R.M.S. Strathaird arrived in Fremantle harbour on the 7th August, 1954 at 6am with a suspected case of "varioloid" on board. The ship was boarded at 6.50am by three Commonwealth Medical Officers, Drs Young, Greenway and Hatfield. After receiving a diagnosis from the ship's surgeon, the C.M.O.'s agreed unanimously that the case was "moderate smallpox" in that it seemed rather more severe than a case of "varioloid".

After the diagnosis of smallpox was confirmed the doctors proceeded to inspect all on board and the following is a brief chronological summary of the plan which evolved:-

1.) Case dispatched to Quarantine Station at 11.30am by ship's boat towed by launch and accompanied by Dr Greenway and the hospital attendant. Bedding and belongings were taken also.

2.) Nine stewards, close contacts of the victim, who occupied the same cabin were taken off next with their belongings at 12.30pm.

3.) Disinfection of the Isolation Hospital and the cabin occupied by the stewards was then carried out using Formalin spray.

4.) A child with chicken pox together with her brother, father and mother were taken off alone in a launch to Woodman Point at 2.00pm.

5.) Between 2.00 and 4.00pm three boat loads of Fremantle passengers plus their hand luggage were sent off to the Quarantine Station. Mail bags were surface sprayed with Formalin and handed over to the PMG Department.

6.) At about 11.30am a general mass vaccination and re-vaccination had been started and Drs Young and Hatfield worked with the able assistance of the ship's surgeons, sisters and purser's staff until 11.30pm. An estimated 1200 passengers were immunised and details recorded. The small number left over were dealt with by Dr Hatfield the next day. The ship's surgeons also re-vaccinated the entire crew the next day.

Dr Johnson, Deputy Director of Health at the time, worked all night on the papers and reports. At 7.00am on the 8th Drs Johnson and Young visited the Quarantine Station to re-examine the Fremantle passengers to determine how many could be released under surveillance, and when.

The ship berthed at 12 noon on the 8th to take on bunkers and stores. Dr Young boarded the ship later on for his journey to Adelaide to accompany the passengers; 286 were disembarking at Adelaide, 245 at Melbourne and 610 at Sydney.

All relevant notes and documents were forwarded by airmail to the Director-General in Canberra on the 8th.

The incident just described was typical of the procedure of the day but, in general, the passengers must have felt they were heading for a concentration camp. There was (and still is) a large, barn-like ablution block into which they were herded. There was a long row of cubicles where passengers stripped in the first section, showered in the centre and redressed in the third, before passing out to the 'clean' area on the other side.

The laundry is still in existence behind this block, with its fumigator looking rather like a gas chamber. In its time it has fumigated poppy seeds, pig bristles, goat hair, cotton waste, mail bags and infected bedding and laundry. There is an enormous steriliser for metal objects and the original steam engine that powered all this equipment

THE FACTS -

The effective bed strength, that is, available at very short notice, was:
Beds in readiness in the 'Contact' area 152
Beds in the observation area 16
Beds in the isolation area (including 5 single rooms) 21
Additional spare beds in waiting rooms, etc 30
Two-tier bunks for emergency use 64
MAXIMUM BED CAPACITY 283
From 1926 to 1956 a total of 26 ships were subjected to active quarantine measures. Twenty four for smallpox, one for alastrim and one for influenza. From records available the number of people detained during the years 1949 to 1972 totaled 1228.

Up to 1955, disinfection as a precautionary measure against the introduction of foot and mouth disease formed a large proportion of the work of the station.

Numbers dealt with were:
1952 40 vessels 3965 Passengers
1953 24 vessels 1080 Passengers
1954 35 vessels 2006 Passengers

From 01 July 1954 to 30 June 1955, eighteen vessels with 3454 passengers (of which 1260 were rural aliens) and 2084 pieces of luggage were disinfected.

There could have been as many as ten nursing staff at the Station, but usually there were five. The duty of Commonwealth Quarantine Officers was to attend to the inmates at Woodman Point, and also being rostered in turn, to inspecting ships in port, and being on duty at Perth Airport.

In December 1970, the Western Australian Government asked the Commonwealth to release Woodman Point for development as a recreation and tourist centre to replace the loss of Garden Island and Point Peron for naval purposes. It was April 1979 before it was announced that Woodman Point was to close. The Station, capable now of confining hundreds, was no longer needed because isolation could be carried out at local hospitals or at Fairfield in Victoria.

In 1886, when the station was gazetted, it occupied an area of eight hectares, and by 1979, when the station was closed for quarantine, the site was 53 hectares.

Since acquiring the old quarantine station the State Government has through the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Public Works Department, spent considerable funds on maintenance and renovation of existing buildings. Modern facilities have also been built which when opened will blend in with the existing buildings.

The renovations and new works completed are basically the first stage. Plans are being made to restore the Station to heritage standards and make the centre a major site, south of the Swan River for promoting physical education.

( Excerpts from: Woodman Point Recreation Camp - A HISTORY 1886 - 1982 )

It was in 2002 that the Department of Sport and Recreation had the foresight to see the potential of this area, and the old Woodman Point Quarantine Station was then declared as a heritage listing.

Following a generous grant totalling approximately 9 million dollars from the WA Government, and numerous grants from Lottery West, the City of Cockburn and the Federal Government, it was then officially opened on the 9th October, 2007.

The result being, we now have one of the most modern, popular and fully utilised all year round venue, that is used by, and available to, all ages and nationalities.