Specially devised overalls and respirators worn by Dr Burnett Ham and his Medical and Nursing staff

While Queensland was grappling with the bubonic plague, there were also cases of the pneumonic plague. The bubonic plague is contracted through bites from an infected flea whereas the pneumonic develops when other types of plague is untreated and spreads to a patient’s lungs. Once this happens it can be transmitted through close contact via respiratory droplets.

Australia’s only outbreak of the pneumonic plague was in Maryborough, Queensland, in 1905 where eight deaths were recorded. Had the outbreak not been contained the results could have been catastrophic.