Flying the Yellow Flag: The Contingents in Quarantine

The New South Wales and Victorian naval contingents embarked on their return from China on the transport SS Chingtu on 29 March 1901. After 17 days at sea Corporal Thomas Campbell Symonds “developed a rash some days out from Hong Kong followed by an eruption”. Initially thought to be chickenpox, the diagnosis was revised to a probable case of smallpox. This news and the prospect of quarantine raised alarm among the men. The handling of the case also drew some pointed criticism, with one man on board observing, “The patient was isolated towards the end of the trip, and some half-hearted precautions were taken against the spread of the disease.”

The SS Chingtu sailed into Sydney at dusk on 25 April, flying a yellow flag historically used to signal quarantine. Engine Room Artificer Arthur James Livingstone recorded how the situation unfolded:

The doctor is come off at 6 am to clear us & then we are going to march with the others when they land. We had a very lively night, they thought it was their last night. The doctor came aboard at 6 am & put us into quarantine, you should have heard the moan that went up, we have got 14 days to do.

Health officials concluded that Symonds was suffering from a case of smallpox in its third week and the SS Chingtu was immediately ordered into quarantine despite the protests of many officers on board asserting otherwise. The ship was moved from Watson’s Bay and moored inside North Head near the quarantine facility. The Board of Health advised that those successfully vaccinated before embarking for China would be detained for 15 days while the rest would be quarantined for 21 days, although subsequent medical reports varied almost daily. The news was not well-received. After a few days Livingstone noted “everyone is growling in the messes at one another, there will be a row soon if not separated”.

Despite the earlier medical advice, 146 men from the New South Wales Naval Contingent were released on 3 May and received a public reception at Circular Quay. The remaining men were less fortunate and removed to the quarantine facility on the same day. Although Livingston relished sleeping in a bed for the first time in ten months, more cases of smallpox emerged and by 10 May six cases were confirmed, leaving Livingstone to wonder “who is going to be next”. The men in quarantine were revaccinated, some up to three times, and in the case of Livingston, administered the final time with scissors. Others took more creative steps to hasten their release: one man burnt his arm with a cigar to mimic a successful vaccination mark.

As detention dragged on, many struggled with the isolation and boredom, prompting two men to abscond from the quarantine facility on 14 May to spend the night in Manly, only to be arrested on their return. The situation further deteriorated when one of the six men suffering from smallpox, Private Charles Walter Smart, died from the disease on 20 May. By the end of May the majority of the men were released after more than five weeks in quarantine. The handful that remained ­– including Able Seaman James Thomas Sippe, who had not contracted smallpox but was isolated at the facility as a precaution – were released by late June. Much like the campaign in China this was not the homecoming the men had hoped for.