Pages tagged with: epidemic

Just over ninety years ago, in November 1918, New Zealand was in the grip of its worst-ever disease outbreak. A lethal influenza pandemic killed more than 8600 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time.

Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand in the form of ‘a deadly new virus’ on board the RMS Niagara.

A woman describes the importance of the work of nurses and of the Red Cross in training them.

As adults fell to influenza, children were called upon to help with deliveries and other chores.

Many children were made orphans by the pandemic. For others it was just an extended holiday from school.

One man tells of the terrible situations his family faced during the pandemic.

The effects of influenza sent some people 'raving mad'.

All sorts of remedies were tried to cure victims of the pandemic. Many were of little use.

Those suffering from influenza had little interest in celebrating the end of the First World War.

In what looks more like a cowshed than a medical facility, Christchurch citizens line up in an inhalation chamber for a dose of zinc sulphate. Like many supposed cures for the flu, it probably did more harm than good.

This carved wooden Maori cenotaph was erected at Te Koura marae in memory of those who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic.

An influenza medicine depot in Christchurch for poor people

The Union Steam Ship Company's trans-Pacific liner Niagara in Auckland. Many people believed a deadly new influenza virus came to New Zealand aboard the Royal Mail liner Niagara, which arrived in Auckland from Vancouver and San Francisco on 12 October 1918.

Death rates in South Island towns and counties from the influenza pandemic