Unlocking the Past | Century since the deadly flu of 1919 hit Cessnock and Kurri Kurri

By Kimberly O'Sullivan
Updated October 22 2019 - 1:42pm, first published June 19 2019 - 11:29am
HEALTH: Workers wearing masks at the Riley Street Depot at Surry Hills during the height of the influenza pandemic in April 1919. Picture: NSW State Archives and Records
HEALTH: Workers wearing masks at the Riley Street Depot at Surry Hills during the height of the influenza pandemic in April 1919. Picture: NSW State Archives and Records

This year marks the centenary of the devastating influenza pandemic, which swept across countries and continents killing between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. Arriving in Australia in late 1918, this deadly disease was actually an influenza pneumonia hybrid - a terrifying combination. With effective antibiotics still decades away death rates were high.

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