Desperate remedies
Oddly enough, the greatest hazard facing gold diggers on the early goldfields, was not the threat posed by bushrangers but the conditions under which they lived. Life was incredibly harsh and coupled with the poor water supplies, lack of proper food and the primitive state of medical science, it’s a wonder more diggers didn’t perish. And, when illness did come knocking, more often than not the cure was worse than the ailment. There was no law preventing anyone setting himself up in practice as a “doctor” on the goldfields in these times. As a result, many “general practitioners” were not doctors at all but clerks or drapers’ assistants who pretended to be surgeons. Broken bones would be set without anaesthetic, while they would operate with the same knives that were used at other times to chop tobacco or spread butter. Doctors’ instruments looked like something out of a torture chamber, so it was small wonder the diggers tried to avoid doctors’ treatments where possible.
At the Forest Creek diggings at Mt Alexander (Castlemaine today) which in the 19th century was considered one of the richest goldfields in the world, many people died from dysentery, typhoid and chest complaints. Two hundred children died from the effects of polluted water, fouled with waste and mud. Although the Chinese brought in supplies of greens, the soil was so poor that the vegetables did not do well. After the Pennyweight Flat cemetery closed in 1857, an epidemic of influenza swept through the goldfield and there were many deaths that went unrecorded, but a year before, it appears that approximately 2,000 children under the age of 10 died in Victoria, many of them victims of the unhygienic conditions of the goldfields. And it was not only children who died.
Dr Williams’ “Pink Pills” were advertised as an iron-rich tonic for the blood and nerves to treat anaemia, clinical depression, poor appetite and lack of energy. The tablets were originally advertised as Pink Pills for Pale People. Users of the product claimed the pills could even cure paralysis!
In the case of one Bendigo man who had been shot through the neck in a fight, one doctor treated him by bandaging pieces of raw steak to his stomach. When this didn’t work, wine was poured into him and flowed out of the hole in his neck. Needless to say, the unfortunate digger died. Diggers who valued their lives treated their ailments with Holloway’s Pills, which contained opium. Extraordinary “miracle” cures were peddled in the 19th century, all with amazing claims. Although many had nothing much in the way of curative properties, doctors and hospitals were expensive and often none too reliable and these so-called tonics were widely used.
Beecham’s Pills claimed to cure practically every known ailment: “Constipation, headache, dizziness, swimming in the head, wind, pain andspasms in the stomach, pains in the back, restlessness, insomnia, indigestion, want of appetite, fullness after meals, vomiting, sickness in the stomach, bilious or liver complaints, sick headaches, cold chills, flushings of heat, lowness of spirits and all nervous afflictions, scurvy and scorbutic affections, pimples and blotches on the skin, bad legs, ulcers, wounds, maladies of indiscretion, kidney and urinary disorders and menstrual derangements.” The pills were said to contain “medicinal herbs” and they only cost a shilling a box for 56 pills. The medicinal herbs later proved to be aloes, ginger and soap. Dr William’s Pink Pills for Pale People were similar, claiming to heal most ailments from St Vitus Dance to rheumatism, and promising to create “rich red blood” which would tingle in the veins.
Gould’s Mutton Bird Oil claimed to cure wasting diseases. Holloways Ointment, already mentioned, claimed not only to cure dysentery but also “bad legs, wounds, piles, sores, eczema and all skin afflictions”. Besides opium, the medication contained. olive oil, lard, resin, white wax, yellow wax, turpentine and spermaceti. Positive thinking apparently did the rest. Captain Stringer and his “Jogga Wagga” healing waters were a different story. This cure was for malaria, syphilis and rheumatism, but when three people died after imbibing it, the liquid was analysed and it was found that the contents bore a resemblance to the water of the Yarra River, at the place where refuse from the gasworks mixed with that from the tannery! Similarly, Mrs Harle’s Pansy Packet or Towle’s Pills (which helped ladies cure all irregularities) could also cause death. Another medication called Peruna, which claimed to cure dyspepsia, enteritis, measles, colic, mumps, appendicitis and “women’s complaints” merely consisted of alcohol and flavoured water. Other medicines for children often contained morphine or opium, which could have serious consequences.