When we think of doomsday prepping, our imagination is likely to conjure images of eccentric characters in American documentaries, or, more recently, the stockpiling of food and supplies undertaken by many around the globe while we were cast into the initial throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. But here, in the Householders’ Handbook for Nuclear Warfare, […]
‘At present nuclear attack on Australia is unlikely,’ reads the final page of this booklet, ‘Should our strategical circumstances change and it become advisable for you to prepare to meet the dangers of fallout, you will be informed.’ Locals of the Greater Newcastle area would have had mixed emotions when these pamphlets began arriving for […]
News of the success of the poliomyelitis (polio) immunisation program would have delighted Dr. Kenneth Starr, a former Medical Superintendent of Newcastle Hospital during the 1930s. Polio was one of the most terrifying diseases to sweep across Australia during the 20th century. Affecting mostly children, in many cases it could cause permanent paralysis and even death. […]
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