Between January 1919 and March 1920, waves of Spanish flu swept across Australia, touching every settlement from the bottom of Tasmania to the tip of Cape York and from Byron Bay in the east to Broome in the west.
At least 15,000 people died and many more were incapacitated, but medical and health specialists, by literally putting their lives on the line, saved countless more and gave Australia a template for what was to come at the country exactly a century later.
This book tells the full story of the Australian experience of the Spanish Flu and of those who fought it and sometimes lost their lives to it.
This fascinating account also illustrates many striking parallels to the Covid pandemic of 2020, including intense interstate rivalries, personal heroics, frequent confusion and incompetence, and widespread economic disruption.