Abstract: This article examines how powerful and regulatory emotions shaped the emergence and enforcement of new hygienic norms during infectious disease outbreaks in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Sydney. In a period of physical and epistemic transformation, emotionally charged public communication produced both interventionist and internalised forms of action. Such communication made particular behaviours feel appropriate or inappropriate based on learned understandings. Hygienic rules and knowledge were thus underwritten by an emotional regime. Shifting norms around tuberculosis and plague were not only protective but also productive, determining who could access the rights of the state and who was subject to its coercive power. Emotions, mobilised through the regulation of bodily practices such as spitting and grooming, enabled the diffusion of public health governance across bodies and communities, but they also made that power unstable.

Abstract: Mass immigration driven by the discovery of gold in colonial Victoria in the mid to late nineteenth century gave rise to growth in regional areas which was accompanied by the building of institutions of social control. Focusing on the gaol and asylum opened in the newly-emerged town of Beechworth, this paper exposes the complexities of stafing these institutions, which were established not only to control ‘deviant’ populations, but to also reform, care for, and cure those incarcerated. Dificulties with recruiting and retaining an appropriately demeanoured and skilled workforce, combined with a contemporary understanding of the importance of prisoner and patient labour on reformation and cure, could lead to those incarcerated adopting the role of employee. Studies exploring the boundaries between those admitted to and those stafing institutions provide deeper insight into workforce complexities in this time period, and broaden our understanding of contemporary approaches to the reform of criminals and treatment of the mentally unwell.

Abstract: The 28th Māori Battalion served with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) in the Middle East and Italy during the Second World War. A distinctive unit organised along tribal lines and under Māori command, the battalion had a celebrated record of service. They also had one of the highest casualty rates in the 2NZEF, yet little is known about the impact of war on their hauora (wellbeing) after they returned home. This article provides an initial sketch of Māori servicemen’s lived experiences of medical rehabilitation using hospital registers, military personnel files, oficial data, death records, inquest files, and memoirs, concentrating on Māori returned veterans who died prior to 1950. When combined, these sources provide an insight into Māori health during and immediately after the war, and also illuminate the reasons men were repatriated, the nature of their wounds, and how they encountered medical care on their return.

Abstract: During the nineteenth century, the Asylums for the Destitute and Aged in NSW grew in size and number to meet the needs of an ageing population, particularly those who through chronic debility were unable to work, were impoverished, and lacked family support. Overcrowding, poor maintenance, inadequate numbers of untrained staff, and regulations that were often enforced in an arbitrary manner meant that life in the asylums could be unpleasant. This study examines newspaper reports of suicidal behaviour in inmates of these asylums in the nineteenth century. Most reports were of older males and occurred between 1887 and 1899. While physical and mental health issues were frequent, problems with complying with asylum regulations were also prominent. Magistrates often referred older people charged with attempted suicide to an asylum, particularly those without finances and unable to work due to ill health. Thus, the Asylums for the Destitute and Aged were implicated in both contributing to suicidal behaviour and as a solution.