New immigrants to Australia often misjudged the power of the Antipodean
sun particularly those who laboured in the outdoors. Many wore heavy dark clothing more suited to the
temperate climes of their homelands in Northern Europe. Not surprisingly cases
of sun-stroke or heat-stroke were quite common and sometimes resulted in fatal
outcomes.
In a guide to the Australian colonies an English Mineralogical Surveyor
included these frightening observations:
Immigrants arriving in
the heyday of life, may expect to die ten years sooner than they would in
England.
A few cases of coup de soleil, or sunstroke, occur every
year during the hot weather, and sometimes a person dies from the bite of a
venomous serpent.[1]
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| Cockburn's property, Crohamhurst Station |
In 1857, the North Australian
reported the gruesome discovery by a shepherd, of the blackened body of a fellow
German immigrant.
A magisterial inquiry took place yesterday, at the Police
Office, touching the death of a German, named John Seitz, who died from the
effects of a sun-stroke at the Three mile Creek, on the 15th instant.
 |
| Henry Montague Cockburn |
It appeared, from the evidence of Mr. H. M. Cockburn, that
the deceased was his hired servant and on being informed by one of his
shepherds that the deceased was lying dead in the bush, he proceeded there
accompanied by Dr. Challinor and a constable, and saw the body on the ground:
there were no remarks of violence upon it, but his face was black.
Dr. Challinor stated that he had examined the body
externally, and from the congested state of the head and face, was of opinion
that the deceased died in convulsions most probably occasioned by a sunstroke.[2]
German immigrants, especially those recently arrived, seemed especially
susceptible to the Queensland summer heat.
DEATH BY SUN STROKE -The weather has been excessively hot
during the past week, and several cases of coup de soleil have occurred; one of
these proved fatal. On Wednesday, we learn that the thermometer reached 105[3]
in the shade.
We subjoin the particulars of the fatal case of sun
stroke, as taken in evidence before the Coroner, (K. Cannan, Esq.):-
William Gericke deposed: I am a farmer; the deceased William
Klemm, has been in my employ about five months. Shortly before four o'clock
yesterday afternoon I found the deceased lying under a bush quite insensible.
About half an hour before, I saw him (the deceased) hoeing and apparently quite
well.
He was rather an ailing man, and did not enjoy the best
of health. He had on a brown felt hat, - a hat I think quite unsuitable to the
climate. I sent immediately for Dr. Bell. The deceased was a sober man, and had
no drink to my knowledge yesterday.
-John Adsett deposed; I am a labourer, and have known the
deceased about five months. About five o'clock yesterday afternoon, I found the
deceased in the corn, lying helpless on his side, breathing very hard. I bathed
him with water and vinegar till Dr. Bell came.
 |
| Dr. Cannan the Coroner |
-Hugh Bell deposed: I am a legally qualified medical
practitioner; I saw the deceased between
half-past four and five o'clock; he was
then nearly lifeless; I considered that
the heart was gorged with blood. I endeavoured to get some blood to flow, and
to get some stimulants into the stomach, without succeeding. I think the
deceased died from a sun-stroke. The jury returned a verdict of died from the
effects of a sun-stroke.[4]
The Brisbane Coroner Doctor Kearsey Cannan, alarmed at the number of
sunstroke deaths he was attending, wrote of his concerns in a letter to the Moreton Bay Courier. He first quoted
from an account by the renowned General Sir Charles Napier of his personal
experience of sunstroke whilst serving with the Army in India.
The subject cannot be better introduced than by quoting
the late gallant General Sir Charles Napier's interesting and characteristic
account of his personal seizure, when serving in Sindh.
 |
| General Sir Charles Napier |
"... I was
tumbled over by the heat with apoplexy; forty-three others were struck, all
Europeans, and all died within three hours, except myself! I do not drink! that is the secret. The sun had no ally in the
liquor amongst my brains.
Unable to walk, I flung myself on a table, and luckily
one of my staff came in. He called the doctors; two or three were with me in a
twinkling; wet towels rolled round my head, feet in hot water; bleeding, and
two men rubbing me. I was so drowsy as to be angry that they would not let me
sleep. Had they done so, it would have been hard to wake me."[5]
Doctor Cannan drew attention to the main causes of the deadly effects
of sunstroke: - excessive exposure to the rays and heat of the sun, the
consumption of alcoholic spirits such as rum, a heavy diet, and unsuitable
attire.
Sir Charles here gave expression to a physiological fact.
The sun is the primary cause; the spirit ration and the abuse of ardent spirits
constitute tho chief accessories. Most experienced surgeons believe that, with
temperance in diet, avoidance of so much direct solar exposure as may be
compatible with the nature of the service, attention to tent covering and
ventilation, and to head dress and body clothing, British soldiers may be made
to march well under the hottest sun of India.[6]
 |
| Station hands sporting various styles of headwear |
Finally the Coroner detailed his
latest case of sunstroke he had investigated, and provided some studied advice to colonists.
On Saturday last I was required to hold an inquest on the
body of a man who had been struck to death on the previous day, from exposure
to the sun. He belonged to the road party working near Woogaroo.[7]
Such, frequently, is the suddenness and fatal character
of the seizure, leading so often to the speedy death of men previously in
health and in the midst of active employment, that this circumstance induces me
to believe that the following remarks on the means of prevention of such a
fearful malady will not be considered ill-timed.
Of all the means of prevention of Heat Apoplexy, the
avoidance of spirituous liquors, and of excess in the use of animal diet, must
take the lead.
The next most important matter is the quality and
arrangement of the dress and on this subject there can be no difference or
question. The head-dress should be light, of slowly conducting materials, and
constructed so as to command ventilation.[8]
 |
| European gentlemen wearing protective solar topee |
He used the example of the trooper who accompanied him to point out the
unsuitability of the clothing of those employed outdoors. He notes that the unfortunate victim he
examined was wearing the worst possible headwear - a tight black hat – a sure
focus of solar energy.
I was accompanied by a trooper on Saturday last, whose
dress I will now compare, or rather contrast, with that above recommended. He
was cased in a close-fitting suit of blue cloth; head-dress, a cap of same
material, barely covering the top of the head, leaving the back part totally
uncovered - a peak in front sufficiently large to shade one eye at a time.
On my warning him that by exposing his head to the sun in
such a manner he was courting the fate of the unfortunate man whose body we
were about to view, he replied that such were the regulations, and he must obey!
Comment on such a regulation is unnecessary. Publicity alone will surely put an
end to such barbarity.
However, with the assistance of some green leaves placed
in the cap, and damping the inside at a shady water-hole, to allay the
intolerable heat, my companion - after six hours exposure to the direct solar
rays-did arrive safely back again. I may here also mention that the man who had
been struck to death wore a black felt hat, fitting close to the head.[9]
I am, &c.
K. CANNAN, Coroner.
Stores were quick to import proper protective headwear from India – the
most efficacious thought to be the “Solar Topee”.
 |
| Solar Topee or Pith Helmet |
There was also the home-grown variety, the cabbage tree hat platted from the fronds of the cabbage palm.
 |
| Cabbage tree hat |
[1]
The Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 24
December 1853
[2] North
Australian, Saturday March 17 1857
[3] 41°C
[4]
The Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 2
January 1858
[5] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17 January
1860
[6] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17
January 1860
[7]
Now Goodna
[8] The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17
January 1860
[9]
The Moreton Bay Courier Tuesday 17
January 1860
