2020: DAY 20
THE PLAGUE
WORK IN THE INFECTED AND QUARANTINED AREAS
MORE UNCLEAN PLACES DISCOVERED
SEVERAL QUARANTINED AREAS RELEASED
FIVE FRESH CASES AND TWO DEATHS
WORK IN WEXFORD ST - deputation of ‘Chinamen’ to George McCredie (consultant engineer in charge of cleansing operations) asking for work. .. Many of those employed "no doubt found the work easier and the pay better than that to which they were accustomed."
”The district shows unmistakeable signs of the vigorous cleansing which has gone on, and an unwonted whiteness from the lime-washing improves the general aspect.”
[NOTE: Wexford St in 1900 was one of Sydney’s several Chinatowns. A number of streets were cleared at the time of the plague outbreak, enabling a grand boulevard - Wentworth Avenue - leading from the Eastern Suburbs to the new Central Station, built in 1906. See Map of Spirits (2015) for more info]
A CITIZEN'S VIGILANCE COMMITTEE FORMED
MEETING AT THE TOWN HALL
THE MAYOR APPROVES OF THE MOVEMENT
SPEECH BY THE RT HON GEORGE REID MLA
INTERCOLONIAL CONFERENCE - report on plague conf. in Melb.
DAY OF HUMILIATION - went ahead; reports from all the churches - but Catholics didn't participate. In same column as report on church services, item about the Pope's giving Dowager Empress of China a porcelain vase for having recognized Catholic church in China.
Batson’s Lane, 1900, following cleansing - Source: State Library of NSW