The NSW State Records Office says: "Between January and September 1919 pneumonic influenza, known as Spanish Flu, killed 6,387 people in NSW, infecting as many 290,000 in Metropolitan Sydney alone. The pandemic threw the people and government of the state into a community effort rivalled only by that of the recent world war."
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In November 1918 the Walcha Municipal Council was warned by the government "that special measures would have to be taken to control the disease in the event of it gaining a foothold here" and asked for particulars of facilities that could be used as accommodation and vaccination depots.
The virus came to Australia primarily with the return from Europe of the many thousands of armed services personnel after the Armistice of November 11, 1918. They were disembarked at all of the major ports in the nation at much the same time.
Attempts to contain the spread of the virus began with closure of "all libraries, schools, churches, theatres and public halls. Public gatherings and outdoor events such as horse races were banned. Severe restrictions were placed on interstate travel with quarantine camps for rail travellers set up at Wallangarra in the north and at Hawkesview near Albury in the south.
The camp at Hawkesview closed in April 1919 while the Wallangarra camp closed in May 1919. Neither proved effective since there were too many other border crossing options available to travellers. Restrictions on intrastate travel to and from Sydney by rail, car or coastal steamer were introduced.
Larger railway stations were fitted out with "inhalation rooms" where intending passengers who had been inoculated and were otherwise permitted to travel, spent a few minutes breathing a mist containing a number of ingredients, including eucalyptus, that was believed to offer some protection against infection.
The Walcha Municipal Council opened an inoculation depot in February 1919 following the supply of vaccine by the Department of Health and also gathered particulars of local buildings that could be used as temporary hospitals in an emergency.
The number of people infected in Walcha is not known nor is the number who died as a result. Reports in the Armidale Express indicate that several Walcha people died here in July 1919 as a result of the virus.
