Trams, epidemics, and Kiwi ingenuity!
Guest blog written by Anna MacGillivray, Epidemics Aotearoa
Hi, my name is Anna! I studied bio-anthropology at the University of Auckland and have been working with the Auckland Medical Museum Trust to run Epidemics Aotearoa.
This is a campaign through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to both look at New Zealand’s history of epidemics, but also to collect memories of our current epidemic. Get in touch through our social media or email at epidemicsaotearoa@gmail.com
We have had our fair share of epidemics in New Zealand, but the deadliest we have lived through was the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. It caught us just after World War 1 ended, and in eight weeks killed almost half of the number of Kiwis who had died during the war. Worldwide, it took between 20 and 50 million lives.
For a long time, it was believed that the virus had come to New Zealand on the RMS Niagara which had sailed from North America to Auckland. However, as the timeline of mortality doesn’t quite add up, the arrival source of the Spanish Flu remains a mystery.
Over the last few months during the Covid-19 epidemic, we’ve been guided by the government to practice social distancing, keeping to our bubbles, and being kind. In 1918, the government moved to actively attack the virus. The Department of Public Health offered the idea of using zinc sulphate as a mist antiseptic that would cleanse the body and kill the bugs.
Inhalers made from brass were mass-produced round the country by the Railways Department. The body of the inhaler was heated from below by a small kerosene stove, and the pressure activated a spray nozzle. Larger ones were made by Dunedin engineering firm, A. T. Burt, Ltd., and distributed to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.
In cities across New Zealand, spaces were turned into inhalation chambers. Some were put in Electricity Department buildings; others were in bicycle sheds where areas were partitioned off in a horse-stable style and Kiwis took their turn being sprayed in the face.
In 1967, Radio New Zealand interviewed one man who remembered his time in one of the converted inhalation chambers. He described the experience:
“They were going to put us through a chamber — sort of gas. Oh, I was up to that. I thought, this’ll do me; they ain’t going to charge. So … they showed us into this bit of a room. Oh, I suppose there were 50 or 60 at one [go]. And they put us in and sealed it up and turned this sort of gas on — you could hear it squibbing and hissing — and didn’t it get warm and sort of foggy … By gum, I began to sweat a bit. And I suppose it was on for a bit over five minutes anyway. And, I was glad to hear the door opening, and let the air in again! Anyway, I came out, and my eyes were running and I felt … I don’t think much of that treatment, anyhow.”
In Christchurch though, innovation abounded! As the number of infected Kiwis grew, Christchurch turned their trams into mobile inhalation centres. The compressed brake systems in the trams were adapted to operate the inhalation sprayer, which would pump clouds of zinc sulphate vapour into the tram carriages.
Originally, six Christchurch trams were converted and in service around the city, but this number had swelled to 23 by the peak of the epidemic. They were particularly useful for the outlying suburbs, as people were not always able to get into the city.
Rurally, remedies included the suggestion to drink liberal amounts of spirits, wear camphor bags holding garlic or sugar-soaked kerosene, and sprinkle firewood with sulphur to fumigate living quarters.
Eventually, it was accepted that zinc sulphate did not kill the Spanish Flu virus and that cramming everyone into small spaces had the potential to cause further outbreaks.
The converted buildings changed back into Electricity Department and bicycle sheds, and the flu-related innovations were removed from the trams and they resumed their old lives of transporting people around Christchurch.
But we can rest assured that Kiwi ingenuity has been around a long time and over a century on, is still going strong. Rather than converted trams, it is being used to work from home, fight off cabin fever, and have wine dates over Zoom.
A lot of the lessons learned during the Spanish Flu crisis have been implemented during COVID-19. Public Acts that were passed during this time are being used today, namely the 1920 Health Act which was said to be the best piece of health legislation in the English language.
This Act built us the robust public health system we have seen displayed every afternoon at 1pm as Dr Bloomfield addresses New Zealand about case numbers, PPE gear, and affected regions. Thank you, team of 5 million, for getting us to Level 2!
1918 would be impressed.
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Cite this article
MacGillivray, Anna. Trams, epidemics, and Kiwi ingenuity!, Epidemics Aotearoa, MOTAT Museum of Transport and Technology. First published: 25 May 2020. URL https://medium.com/motat/trams-epidemics-and-kiwi-ingenuity-b80316816caa
