Medical Officers and Dispensers in the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, 1841-1849

This work is the first major study of the six medical officers and the two medical dispensers who were employed in the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate during its operation from 1841 until its closure in 1849 in the Port Phillip District, of New South Wales, Australia. The Aboriginal people had little immunity to introduced diseases such as measles, influenza, chickenpox, and bronchitis, and smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, and other venereal diseases were a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. In this context, medical officers and dispensers were appointed to the Aboriginal protectorate to tend the needs of Aboriginal people. Aboriginal societies had their own healers or 'doctors', and Aboriginal people had their own healing practices and pharmacopoeia. Protectorate records confirm that while European medical practitioners and dispensers applied 'western' medicine within the Protectorate, the role and influence of Aboriginal healers continued to be significant.