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History of public health in Australia

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The History of public health in Australia covers public health in Australia since 1787. The history saw incremental progress against high death rates . The 19th century experience came as a British colony and reflected many characteristics of the history of public health in the United Kingdom. Legislative milestones, scientific breakthroughs, and grassroots advocacy collectively modernized a landscape once dominated by disease and high death rates. Hospitals moved from the periphery to the center of public health services and the national budget. Challenges like bad urban sanitation, epidemics, tuberculosis, and infant mortality were largely resolved by the early 20th century. The article also includes Aboriginal Australians along with Torres Strait Islanders, regarding their severe health conditions.

Australia has faced significant public health issues over the years: When the British established the first colony in 1788, they brought diseases like smallpox, which devastated the Aboriginal population. Health care primarily served convicts and military personnel. The healthcare system had to expand rapidly to accommodate the growing number of convicts and settlers, especially after the massive influx of people in the gold rush of 1850s. Doctors faced shortages of essential supplies and struggled with diseases like scurvy and dysentery. Poor urban sanitation led to frequent epidemics in the 19th century. Hospitals had to deal with outbreaks of diseases like tuberculosis and cholera. Access to healthcare was limited for free settlers until the government began subsidizing medical services in the mid-19th century. This marked a significant shift towards more inclusive healthcare. The 20th century saw significant improvements in public health, with legislative milestones and scientific breakthroughs helping to reduce death rates and improve overall healthcare standards. From the late 19th century onward, Australia had very good public health indicators such as life expectancy.

Origins

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Aboriginal health

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Main article: Indigenous health in Australia

Australia was largely isolated from the great epidemic diseases of the rest of the world. In 1788 the British ended that, bringing smallpox and many other germs for which the Aboriginal element had no immunities.[1][2][3]

British penal colonies 1787-1850

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Main articles: Convicts in Australia and Emancipist

In 1787 the British government shipped 700 prisoners, both male and female, to permanent exile in the new possession of Australia. They were accompanied by 400 guards and three physicians. Navy ships kept arriving for the next six decades, bringing 160,000 men and women convicted of minor crimes. Many became very sick en route; many had died on the 9-month journey and were buried at sea. Others died when they were exposed to Australia's unfamiliar disease environment. It was not a new phenomena: European settlers in the warmer American colonies in the 17th and 18th century had very high death rates. Dr. John White played a crucial role in establishing the Colonial Medical Service with basic medical care for everyone. He opened the first hospital for prisoners in 1788. It was greatly expanded it by 1811, as thousands more convicts poured in as well as hundreds of doctors.[4] . However, smallpox, scurvy and dysentery were constant companions and did not have cures.[5] The large convict population had free professional medical care through doctors and hospitals.[6]

Most of the prisoners who served out their time (called "Emancipist") remained in Australia. The most famous was William Redfern, a ship's surgeon in the Royal Navy who had been convicted of mutiny. He became a leader of the medical community.

Owning a farm was virtually impossible for poor people back home, but now farmland was practically free. There were very attractive terms for Army officers guarding the convicts and they soon established farms and a new upper class for Australia.[7][8]

Sydney hospitals

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According to Peter Hobbins, from 1835 to 1855, Sydney took the lead in the expansion and transformation of health care. Hospital access had long been limited to convicts and the military. In 1836, the government began subsidizing medical services for free settlers. Innovation came at the small Sydney Dispensary, which expanded into the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary in 1843. Patients stayed on average 8 weeks. Adults suffered from rheumatism, syphilis, leg ulcers, and bronchitis. Children under 12 were brought in suffering from influenza, diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough and typhoid fever. As patient totals quadrupled to 4,000, the infirmary was complemented by the treasury-funded Vaccine Institution. It provided free outpatient medical care for the city's poor. Their chief demand was relief from heartburn, rheumatism, syphilis, worms, and gonorrhoea. Dr. Haynes Gibbes Alleyne in 1852 introduced the use of chloroform in amputations at the Sydney Infirmary. He became a prominent public health official and led the suppression of smallpox epidemics in 1876 and 1881. Although the government refused to mandate smallpox vaccination, the medical community became leaders in promoting the government's broader goal of creating a "moral and charitable quarantine" around its vulnerable citizens. This policy of "betterment" went beyond healthcare, contributing to the development of Sydney as a self-governing community that increasingly relied on the power of a centralized state. Furthermore, the status achieved by Sydney hospitals in 1848 became the standard for all hospitals in NSW by the Hospitals Partial Incorporation Act. This Act set up the legal foundation of the hospital systems throughout Australia.[9][10]

Catholic hospitals

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Further information: Catholic Church and health care § Oceana

The Catholic Church, with a base largely in the Irish community, brought in three orders of sisters from Ireland: Sisters of Charity of Australia, Sisters of St John of God. and Sisters of the Little Company of Mary. They opened ten hospitals in the 19th century, and others since then.[11] Sister Mary Baptist De Lacy of the Sister of Charity order arrived in 1838 to serve women convicts. She founded and managed a hospital in Woolloomooloo in the Sydney suburbs until she returned to Ireland in 1859. St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney was opened in 1857 by the Sisters of Charity of Australia as a free hospital for the poor.[12][13] St Joseph's Hospital, Auburn, was founded in 1886 by the Sisters of Charity; it was the first hospital in Australia focused on treating tuberculosis. It closed in 2023.[14] Amy Vera Ackman, known as Mother Giovanni (1886–1966), was a recent leader in hospital administration.[15].

1850-1901

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In the 1850s the transportation of criminals ended. Gold was discovered and the population tripled in the 1850s. Australians boasted about living in "A Working man's paradise." Wages were indeed higher, but there was poverty as well. To explore this boast, Historians have collected data on the death rates for infectious diseases (tuberculosis--called "phthisis" at the time; typhoid; diarrhea; dysentery; and cholera). They compared the three largest Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane) with the three largest English cities (London, Birmingham, and Leeds). From 1880 to 1900, the British cities had 34% higher death rates. In 1901-1905, infant mortality in London was 33% higher than Sydney.[16] [17]

New South Wales (NSW), centred on Sydney, maintained its lead among the colonies in public health matters.[18][19] In the 1850s NSW began colony-wide health administration, focusing on infectious diseases and sanitation using British models.[20] In 1881 the first NSW Board of Health was established as a response to the smallpox epidemic under the provisions of the Infectious Diseases Supervision Act. It required local authorities to write written reports detailing both public health statistics and administrative progress. [21] In 1896 the first Public Health Act in NSW strengthened the Board. In 1902 a revised law consolidated existing powers.[22]

Immigration poster
Australian Government poster issued by the Overseas Settlement Office to attract Brits to "the land of opportunity."

20th century

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Further information: Spanish flu

In World War I (1914–1918), 59,000 Australian men were killed in action or died of wounds with about 13% of this total coming in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign against Turkey. [23]

Australia limited the impact of the 1918-1919 global "Spanish flu" pandemic by vigorous quarantine at the national, state and local levels. Its death rate was one of the lowest in the world.[24][25][26]

In 1921 the national government created the Department of Health following the Spanish flu pandemic, with Dr. John Cumpston as its first director. This marked a significant shift towards national health management. At first the department dealt with quarantines; infectious disease reports; public health research laboratories; and occupational health. The 1944 Pharmaceutical Benefits Act set up cash subsidies for expensive drugs and reflected growing popular demand for subsidies of everyday medical care.[27]

Life expectancy

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The steady upward trend in life expectancy resembles the trend in Britain. However, since 1900 conditions have been more favorable. in Australia. This is probably thanks to less industrialisation, lower population density, better nutrition and fewer war casualties.[28]

  • Late 19th Century: Life expectancy at birth was 47.2 years for males and 50.8 years for females during the period 1881-1890.[29]
  • Early 20th Century: By the early 1900s, life expectancy had increased slightly. For example, in 1900, males at birth could be expected to live 53.8 years, while females would live 58.8 years. The main change is the steady decline of infant mortality. For life expectancy after age 10, the historical improvements are much smaller.
  • Pre-1930: Improvements in living conditions, such as better water supplies, sewerage systems, and health education, and maternal care contributed to lower death rates and increased life expectancy.
  • 21st Century: By 2020-2022, life expectancy had increased to 81.2 years for males and 85.3 years for females. However, there was a slight decrease in life expectancy in recent years due to setbacks, especially COVID-1967.
  • Advances in healthcare and sanitation have significantly reduced infant mortality rates.
  • Improved public health measures --such as sewers and no-spitting rules--and new drugs after 1945 have reduced deaths from infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis and pneumonia.
  • Advertising and publicity campaigns in the late 20th century reduced cigarette smoking and careless automobile driving.[30]
  • Advances in drugs: After 1940, many powerful new drugs especially sulfonamide, streptomycin and penicillin.[31]

21st century

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The long political battle between left and right has resulted in a compromise that includes both private system (with insurance, doctors and hospitals) as well as a tax-funded public system.[32][33][34]

The public healthcare spending in financial year 2024-2025 is projected to be around AUD 112.7 billion.[35] About 15 million people hold private health insurance; they paid $29.9 billion in premiums in 2023-2024. This does not include Out of Pocket (OOP) expenses paid by individuals, or the $7.6 billion private health insurance rebate they will receive from Canberra.[36]

Australia does very well in international comparison of health care statistics among developed countries. In 2010 it scored in the top one-third of the 29 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations in terms of 30 health indicators. Its few exceptions included obesity and infant mortality rate. It ranked first on several indicators, including life expectancy, and non-smoking. In 2022 it outranked all of Europe on life expectancy.[37][38]

Medibank

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Medibank is the nation's largest private health insurance provider, covering around 4.2 million customers in 2024.[39] Medibank initially started as an Australian Government not-for-profit insurer in 1976, before becoming for-profit in 2009 under the Rudd Government and privatised by the Abbott government in 2014.[40][41][42]

Medicare

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Medicare is the publicly funded federal government program that has provided universal health care since 1984 for all citizens and some visitors. It covers all of the cost of public hospital services. It also covers some health services provided by GPs and medical specialists such as physiotherapy, community nurses and basic dental services for children. Medicare's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) lowers the price of some prescription medicines.[43][44]

COVID-19 pandemic 2020-2022

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Australia used its 1918 experience to promptly impose severe quarantine restrictions when Covid epidemic appeared in 2020. International and inter-state travel was strictly limited.[45] Thousands were abroad and unable to return home; families that crossed state lines could not get together. However in terms of stopping the importation and domestic spread of the disease, the policy worked. In the end Australia had relatively low rates of infections and death.[46]

Catholic hospitals

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Catholic Health Australia is today the largest non-government provider grouping of health, community and aged care services in Australia. These do not operate for profit and range across the full spectrum of health services, representing about 10% of the health sector and employing 35,000 people. They remain heavily involved in community activities including education, health services, chaplaincy to prisons, rest homes, and hospitals, social justice, and human rights advocacy.[47]

Historic population estimates

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Historic population (estimated)
Pre-1788
YearIndigenous population±%
pre 1788300,000 to 1,000,000—    
Source: [48]
Settlement – Federation
YearNon-indigenous population±% p.a.
1788 859—    
1798 4,588+18.24%
1808 10,263+8.38%
1818 25,859+9.68%
1828 58,197+8.45%
1838 151,868+10.07%
1848 332,328+8.15%
1858 1,050,828+12.20%
1868 1,539,552+3.89%
1878 2,092,164+3.11%
1888 2,981,677+3.61%
1898 3,664,715+2.08%
Source: [49]
Post-Federation
YearTotal population±%
1901 3,788,123—    
1906 4,059,083+7.2%
1911 4,489,545+10.6%
1916 4,943,173+10.1%
1921 5,455,136+10.4%
1926 6,056,360+11.0%
1931 6,526,485+7.8%
1936 6,778,372+3.9%
1941 7,109,898+4.9%
1946 7,465,157+5.0%
1951 8,421,775+12.8%
1956 9,425,563+11.9%
1961 10,548,267+11.9%
1966 11,599,498+10.0%
1971 13,067,265+12.7%
1976 14,033,083+7.4%
1981 14,923,260+6.3%
1986 16,018,350+7.3%
1991 17,284,036+7.9%
1996 18,224,767+5.4%
2001 18,769,249+3.0%
2006 19,855,288+5.8%
2011 21,507,717+8.3%
2016 23,401,892+8.8%
2021 25,417,978+8.6%
Note: Estimated populations prior to 1961 do not include the Indigenous population.
Source: [50][51][52][53][54]

See also

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Leaders

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  • John White (1756–1832) Surgeon-General of New South Wales from 1788
  • William Redfern (1775–1833), emancipist who became a leading surgeon
  • D'Arcy Wentworth (1762–1827), physician; settler
  • Haynes Gibbes Alleyne (1813–1882), public health official
  • John Cumpston (1880–1954), first Director-General of the Australian Government's Department of Health, 1921–1945.
  • Amy Vera Ackman, known as Mother Giovanni (1886–1966), Catholic hospital administrator and one of the Sisters of Charity.

Notes

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  1. ^ John Shaw, Collins Australian Encyclopedia (1984). pp.186–89 online
  2. ^ Peter J. Dowling, " 'A Great Deal of Sickness': Introduced diseases among the Aboriginal People of colonial Southeast Australia 1788-1900" (PhD dissertation, Australian National University, 1997) online.
  3. ^ Judy Campbell, Invisible invaders: smallpox and other diseases in Aboriginal Australia 1780-1880 (Melbourne Univ. Publishing, 2016).
  4. ^ Katherine Foxhall, "From convicts to colonists: The health of prisoners and the voyage to Australia, 1823–53." Journal of imperial and commonwealth history 39.1 (2011): 1-19 online.
  5. ^ B.H. Short, "Surgeon John White: Australia's first surgeon-general." United Service 64.4 (2013): 24-27. online
  6. ^ Fiona Starr, “The ‘Sidney Slaughter House’: Convict Experience of Medical Care at the General ‘Rum’ Hospital, Sydney, 1816–1848.” Health and History 19, no. 2 (2017): 60+ online
  7. ^ Brian Dickey, No charity there: A short history of social welfare in Australia. (Routledge, 2020) ch 1.
  8. ^ See Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding (1986) on harshness of captivity.
  9. ^ Peter Hobbins, "Tending the Body Politic: Health Governance, Benevolence, and Betterment in Sydney, 1835–55." Health & History: Journal of the Australian & New Zealand Society for the History of Medicine (2017) 19#2 pp.90-115.
  10. ^ Richard Refshauge, "Alleyne, Haynes Gibbes (1815–1882)". Australian Dictionary of Biography (1969).
  11. ^ Catherine O'Carrigan, "Australian Catholic hospitals in the nineteenth century." Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 7.4 (1984): 20-36.
  12. ^ Anne O'Brien, God's Willing Workers: Women and Religion in Australia (University of New South Wales, 2005). . p. 166.
  13. ^ Anne-Maree Whitaker, St Vincent's Hospital 1857–2007: 150 years of charity, care and compassion (Kingsclear Books, 2007) pp. 2–3.
  14. ^ See "Remembering St Joseph's Hospital" (2023) interviews with longtime staff in Auburn, NSW].
  15. ^ Edna M. Skewes, "Ackman, Amy Vera (1886–1966)". Australian Dictionary of Biography (1993).
  16. ^ Milton Lewis, and Roy MacLeod, "A Working man's paradise? Reflections on urban mortality in colonial Australia 1860–1900." Medical History 31.4 (1987): 387-402 online.
  17. ^ William Thomson, "The climate of Victoria (Australia) for Phthisis," The Lancet 110.2835 (1877): 971 online
  18. ^ See "The rich history of the Australian health care system," Healthcare Channel (2024) online
  19. ^ Alan James Christian Mayne, Fever, squalor, and vice: sanitation and social policy in Victorian Sydney (1982).
  20. ^ Anna Wong, “Colonial Sanitation, Urban Planning and Social Reform in Sydney, New South Wales 1788 - 1857.” Australasian Historical Archaeology 17 (1999): 58–69. online
  21. ^ Josephine Cannistra, "The Sanitary Lens: A Study of 19th Century Public Health in British Colonial India and Australia." (2023). online
  22. ^ Michael Roe, "The establishment of the Australian Department of Health: its background and significance." Australian Historical Studies 17.67 (1976): 176-192.
  23. ^ P. Leppard, et al. "The effect of World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic on cohort life expectancy of South Australian males born in 1881-1900." Journal of Population Research (2004) 21#2:161-176.
  24. ^ Mayumi Kako, et al. "Spanish influenza of 1918-19: The extent and spread in South Australia." Australasian Epidemiologist 22.1 (2015): 48–54. online
  25. ^ Hannah Mawdsley, "Australia, empire and the 1918–19 influenza pandemic." in Exiting war (Manchester UP, 2022) pp. 17–35.
  26. ^ Ian W. Shaw, Pandemic: The Spanish Flu in Australia 1918–1920 (Woodslane Press, 2020).
  27. ^ Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, "100 Years of Health" (2021)online
  28. ^ Richard Taylor, et al. "The Australian mortality decline: cause‐specific mortality 1907–1990." Australian and New Zealand journal of public health 22.1 (1998): 37-44.
  29. ^ Judith Raftery, “Keeping Healthy in Nineteenth-Century Australia.” Health and History 1#4 (1999): 274+. https://doi.org/10.2307/40111359.
  30. ^ John W Powles, and Sandra Gifford, "Health of Nations: lessons from Victoria, Australia," BMJ (1993) 306# 9 pp.125-127. PMID: 8435611 PMCID: PMC1676671 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.306.6870.125
  31. ^ David Greenwood, Antimicrobial Drugs: Chronicle of a twentieth century medical triumph (Oxford University Press, 2008) summary
  32. ^ Anne-Marie Boxall and James A. Gillespie, Making Medicare: The politics of universal health care in Australia (UNSW Press) p. 3.
  33. ^ Adrian Kay, "Tense layering and synthetic policy paradigms: The politics of health insurance in Australia." Australian Journal of Political Science 42.4 (2007): 579-591.
  34. ^ Gwendolyn Gray, Federalism and health policy: The development of health systems in Canada and Australia (U of Toronto Press 1991) ch. 1.
  35. ^ Melanie Conn, "Health: Budget Resources" (Parliament of Australia, 2024) online
  36. ^ Mark Butler, "Value for private health insurance" (2025) online
  37. ^ Xiaoming Sun, ed., World Health Systems (Wiley, 2019) ch. 11 section 3.
  38. ^ For latest data see "OECD Data Explorer" online
  39. ^ "Company overview". Medibank. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  40. ^ "History". Medibank. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  41. ^ Anne-Marie Boxall and James A. Gillespie, Making Medicare, ch. 3.
  42. ^ Jennifer E. De Voe, and Stephanie D. Short, "A shift in the historical trajectory of medical dominance: The case of Medibank and the Australian doctors’ lobby." Social Science & Medicine 57.2 (2003): 343-353.
  43. ^ Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, "The Australian health system: Medicare – the foundation of our health system" (2025) online
  44. ^ Ross Williams, "Australian Pioneers in Health Economics: The Origins of Medicare," The Australian Economic Review 57#2 pp.145–148 DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12552
  45. ^ Dirk H, R. Spennemann, " 'No entry into New South Wales': COVID-19 and the historic and contemporary trajectories of the effects of border closures on an Australian cross-border community." Land 10.6 (2021): 610+.
  46. ^ J.M. Basseal, et al. "Key lessons from the COVID-19 public health response in Australia." The Lancet Regional Health–Western Pacific 30 (2023). online
  47. ^ Gerald A. Arbuckle, "Have Catholic healthcare ministries a future?." Australasian Catholic Record 101.4 (2024): 428-446.
  48. ^ Briscoe, Gordon; Smith, Len (2002). The Aboriginal Population Revisited: 70,000 years to the present. Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal History Inc. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-9585637-6-5.
  49. ^ "TABLE 1.1. Population by sex, states and territories, 31 December 1788 onwards". 23 May 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  50. ^ "TABLE 1.2. Population by sex, states and territories, 30 June 1901 onwards". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  51. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Australia". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  52. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Australia". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  53. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Australia". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  54. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Australia". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 13 July 2017.

Further reading

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  • Bashford, Alison. "The great white plague turns alien: tuberculosis and immigration in Australia, 1901-2001." in Tuberculosis then and now: perspectives on the history of an infectious disease ed. by Flurin Condrau and Michael Worboys, (McGill-Queen's Press, 2010) pp. 100-122.
  • Boxall, Anne-Marie, and James Gillespie. Making Medicare: The Politics of Universal Health Care in Australia (U of New South Wales Press; 2013)
  • Cossart, Yvonne E. "The rise and fall of infectious diseases: Australian perspectives, 1914-2014" Medical Journal of Australia (2014) 201 (1): S11-S14. || doi:10.5694/mja14.00112
  • Cumpston, J. H. L. Health and Disease in Australia 1788-1928: A History (1928; reprint 1989); a major scholarly history.
  • Cumpston, J. H. L. The History of Small-pox in Australia, 1788-1908 (1914) online
  • Curson, Peter. Times of crisis: epidemics in Sydney 1788-1900 (Sydney UP, 1985).
  • De Voe, Jennifer E., and Stephanie D. Short. "A shift in the historical trajectory of medical dominance: The case of Medibank and the Australian doctors’ lobby." Social Science & Medicine 57.2 (2003): 343-353.
  • Dickey, Brian. No charity there: A short history of social welfare in Australia. (Routledge, 2020).
  • Doessel, Darrel Phillip. "A historical perspective on mental health services in Australia: 1883–84 to 2003–04." Australian Economic History Review 49.2 (2009): 173-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8446.2009.00254.x
  • Dowling, Peter J. " 'A Great Deal of Sickness': Introduced diseases among the Aboriginal People of colonial Southeast Australia 1788-1900" (PhD dissertation, Australian National University, 1997) online
  • Duckett, S. J. "Australian hospital services: an overview." Australian Health Review 25.1 (2002): 2-18.
  • Ducket, Stephen. The Australian Health Care System (6th ed. 2022)
  • Guthrie, Douglas. A History Of Medicine (1945) online
  • Gandevia, Bryan et al. An annotated bibliography of the history of medicine and health in Australia (Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 1984).
  • Gray, Gwendolyn. Federalism and health policy: The development of health systems in Canada and Australia (U of Toronto Press 1991).
  • Hamlin, Christopher. Public health and social justice in the age of Chadwick: Britain, 1800–1854 (1998) online
  • Hunter, Ernest. Aboriginal Health and History: Power and Prejudice in Remote Australia (1993)
  • Jamieson, Gwendolyn Gray. Reaching for Health: The Australian Women's Health Movement and Public Policy (ANU Press, 2012)
  • Laidlaw, Ronald W. Mastering Australian history. (1988)
  • Lewis, Milton, and Roy MacLeod. "A Working man's paradise? Reflections on urban mortality in colonial Australia 1860–1900." Medical History 31.4 (1987): 387-402. online
  • Lin, Vivian, et al. Public health practice in Australia : the organised effort (2nd ed. 2020) wide-ranging textbook online 2014 edition
  • Longmate, Norman. King Cholera: The biography of a disease (1966)
  • McLean, David. Public Health and Politics in the Age of Reform: Cholera, the State and the Royal Navy in Victorian Britain (2006).
  • Mendelsohn, Ronald. The Condition of the People: Social Welfare in Australia 1900-1975 (George Allen and Unwin, 1979). pp. 228ff.online
  • Porter, Dorothy. Health, Civilization and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times (1998)
  • Reynolds, Louise, et al. Understanding the Australian Health Care System (5th ed. Elsevier, 2024) online; textbook giving a comprehensive current overview.
  • Roe, Michael. "John Howard Lidgett Cumpston: 1880–1954". in Nine Australian Progressives: Vitalism in Bourgeois Social Thought 1890–1960 (U of Queensland Press, 1984). pp. 118–155.
  • Rosen, George A History of Public Health (1958). online, an older worldwide scholarly history.
  • Schneider, Mary-Jane. Introduction to Public Health (5th edition, 2017) textbook; focus on medical issues.
  • Shaw, Ian W. Pandemic: The Spanish Flu in Australia 1918–1920 (Woodslane Press, 2020).
  • Shaw, John. Collins Australian Encyclopedia (1984). online
  • Taylor, Richard, Milton Lewis, and John Powles. "The Australian mortality decline: all-cause mortality 1788-1990." Australian and New Zealand journal of public health 22.1 (1998): 27-36. online
  • Williams, Ross. "Australian Pioneers in Health Economics: The Origins of Medicare," The Australian Economic Review 57#2 pp.145–148 DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12552
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