A FUTURE UNLIVED. A history of the internment of German Enemy Aliens on Torrens Island.

PAGE 2: SHORT HISTORY OF TORRENS ISLAND. Pages 1 | 2 | 3

According to the Wimmer study, Torrens Island Quarantine Station, covered 222 hectares and had accommodation for up to 224 people, with 56 being located in dormitories and 168 housed in 23 cottages.
At the top of the most northern point of Torrens Island, in the middle, there lies the Torrens Island Cemetery.
According to locals there are far more people who were buried on Torrens Island, than is officially recorded

Research by local historian Richard McCarthy, indicates that there are 28 registered burials on Torrens Island.

No.	Date of Death	Name	Notes	Category	Ship	Origin	Age at Death	Cause of Death	Location of Cross	Grave Location
1	21/3/1919	George Harold Mundy	Carpenter And Munitions Worker	British Seaman	Died at sea Lat 35:26 Long 136.24E on SS City of Cairo.	Gloucester or Goona NSW	35	Pulmonary TB Disease	National Museum Canberra	Marked on Plan Grave 5
2	7/4/1919	Robert Earnshaw	2nd Engineer	British Seaman	HMS Manica	South Ave, Harton. South Shields , Yorkshire UK	31	Influenza & Broncho Pneumonia	National Museum Canberra	Marked on Plan Grave 3
3	22/6/1919	George John Lawrence Morrison	Able Seaman	British Seaman	SS Cootcha	Late of North Fitzroy ,Melbourne ,Victoria- Born Weisdale ,Shetland Islands, Scotland.	36	Influenza & Broncho Pneumonia	National Museum Canberra	Marked on Plan Grave 4
4	8/6/1919 Death Cert Shows 1/1/1919	Albert E Carter	1st Cook	British Seaman	SS Saros	Late of Whitby Yorkshire UK &Sydney NSW Born Manchester UK	32	Influenza & Broncho Pneumonia	Cross Torrens Island	Marked on Plan Grave 2
5	24/6/1919	Leonard Dickenson	Chief Steward	British Seaman	SS Cootcha	Liverpool UK and Fitzroy ,Victoria	29	Influenza	Cross Torrens Island	Marked on Plan Grave 6
6	16/4/1919	Charles Sydney Loaney	Memorial at the Hobart Quarantine Station		SS Conan	Sydney NSW	29	Not Known	National Museum Canberra	Hobart Quarantine-Station
7	30/5/1898 [Death Cert Shows year as 1892]	Rev Alex Still-MA,BD.	Padre Church of England. India CS	India				Malarial Fever ,Andemia ,Phthisis [TB]	Cross-Torrens Island	Marked on Plan Grave 1
8	21/7/1885	Frederick Charles Smith	None Known				47	Not Known	Cross-Torrens Island	Marked on Plan Grave 9
9	8/5/1887	CW Wright						Not Known	Missing
10	27/2/1932	Sadoo Meah	Fireman-Coal Trimmer	Merchant Navy	SS Nowshera	Nook Hali , India	24	Pneumonia	Missing	Unknown
11	August/ 1903	Doris M Dimley or Dimbey	Infant Child			Assumed child of John Dimsey and Elizabet Hill in Launceston Tasmania	1 Year 9 month	Not Known	Cross-Torrens Island	Possibly between graves 8 & 9
12	16/8/1903	Ellen N Young	Infant Child			Assumed child of Thomas Young and Elizabeth Rainsford born at Belvidere near Strathalbyn on 29/5/1884	9 or 19 years	Not Known	Cross-Torrens Island	Possibly between graves 8 & 9
13	15/7/1903	William Bracken					19	Not Known	National Museum Canberra
14	12/2/1900	Efferstean	Not Known					Not Known	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.1
15	18/3/1900	Joseph Grubb						Plague	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.2
16	10/6/1900	George Payne						Plague	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.3
17	12/6/1900	John O’Sullivan						Plague	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.4
18	12/6/1901	David Berry [Note -2 deaths registered-SA entry most likely]	Farmer from Yankalilla	Informant was Harold C Hayward, North Tce. Adelaide			47	Variola Smallpox	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.5
19	12/6/1901	David Berry	Miner from Menzies WA	Informant was H F Wallman, Undertaker ,Young Street ,Unley			43	Variola Smallpox	No Memorial	Listed in notes as Grave No.5 [Note informant was H F Wallman ,undertaker , Young St ,Unley SA]
20	9/6/1887	Thomas Hunter			SS Pruessen			Variola Smallpox	No Memorial	Died from smallpox at TIQS-buried on the Island
21	2/12/1918	Sgt Thwaites Possibly Service No is 319.	Possibly Died at sea.	Listed on TIQS Admissions Register as a death	SS Boonah [Hospital Ship]	NSW		Not Known	No Memorial
22	18/8/1903	Edward Elphinstone	Inscription reads-Dearly loved son of CIE Bird late of Volis .Kingston Somerset, England who fell asleep August 18, 1903 aged 19 years.			Possibly stored on Torrens Island after closure of another station	19		Headstone stored on Torrens Island
23	23/10/1914	Conrad Barth	Believed to be a German Mariner who was interned on Torrens Island during WW1				20	Accidental Drowning		South Australian Index Book 388. P176
24	26/11/1897	William Lewis	Head of Quarantine Statipn at the time of his death				73	Not Known	No Memorial	South Australian Index Book 247 P53
25	27/3/1850	Jane Spare	Early family on Torrens Island- Shown as living at the Samuels residence					Not Known	No Memorial	South Australian Index Book2 P11
26	9/9/1852	Jane Yeo	Daughter of original Torrens Island landowner- Shown as living at the Isaac Residence				2 years 7 month	Not Known	No Memorial	South Australian Index Book2 P151
27	5/1/1859	Elizabeth Ann Yeo	Daughter of original Torrens Island landowner- Shown as living at the William Residence					Not Known	No Memorial	South Australian Index Book 5 P212
28	8/7/1859	James Yeo	Son of original Torrens Island landowner- Shown as living at the William Residence					Not Known	No Memorial	South Australian Index Book 9 P40

As early as 1915, a committee for military hospitals and convalescent homes in South Australia –a body representative of various interests, appointed by the Minister of Defence examined Torrens Island with a view for the treatment of venereal diseases. The newspaper evidence suggests that by 1916, Torrens Island Venereal Isolation Camp had been set up. As early as February 1916, a number of Adelaide newspapers, had published the names of soldiers who had absconded from the venereal isolation camp.
Following the Great War many of the returning soldiers suffered from Spanish Influenza and were placed in isolation on Torrens Island with many hundreds of South Australians ,including Light Horsemen quarantined there- a frustrating blow to young men who had been away from home for years.
In 1921, a new and separate Venereal Disease Hospital was built on the Island a legacy of soldiers returning home from the Great War.
More recently ,the British migrant ship Strathaird, reported eight passengers struck down with smallpox while off the Western Australian port of Fremantle.Of the two tuosand passengers aboard , Torrens Island Quarantine Station took 175. By 1977 the World Health Organization had eradicated smallpox and other diseases and consequently, the human quarantine facility was closed in 1980, and facility reverted to animal quarantine.

Animal Quarantine
This in its way was a reversion as, since 1880, the quarantine station had an animal quarantine facility operating at the southern end, close to Angus Inlet. Here were housed cattle, horses, dogs and cats and this use continued until 1995.
In 1989, costing over 2 million dollars, The Commonwealth government built a world class Avian. The Avian was primarily designed to give poultry breeders a reliable source of new, and disease –free bloodlines. The other motivation was to stop the smuggling in of new strains into Australia, through diseased animals. Chicken, duck, turkey, geese, pheasant, quail and exotic eggs could now be imported from all around the world and could be hatched under strict conditions to ensure that all introduced species were disease free.
In addition, the Animal quarantine facility provided world class research in the Scrapie Freedom Assurance Programme. Under this programme, sheep and goats were quarantined for over 7 years, to ensure that Australia was kept scrapie free. Scrapie is a fatal disease, which has an extremely long incubation period. The causal organism infects very young animals but does not surface for about 7 years. It causes a severe skin irritation which causes the animal to constantly scrape itself against posts and other solid objects causing dramatic fleece damage.

Plan of the Torrens Island Quarantine Station.

Torrens Island and Defence
In 1877,Sir William Jervois, the British Army’s pre-eminent defensive works authority , was appointed Governor of the Colony of South Australia, and was the chief architect of planning and implementing a new defence plan for Adelaide, and the Colony.
The threat and fear of the Russian Navy occupied the minds of earlier defence planners and, following Jervois’ assessment, a torpedo station was built in the 1880s, near to the naval store already established in 1875.The latter had a civilian as well as warlike application as equipment for the incidence of shipwreck were maintained there. Jervois ‘ plans were put into action as the expert recognised that , in any hostilities between Britain and Russia ,South Australia’s merchant shipping
In addition, the Jervois Plan started the fortification of our coastline. This involved building Fort Largs, Fort Glanville, and Military Road to connect the forts with Glenelg.

Map 1. Map of Adelaide Defences.

From the Map, we can obtain a clear picture of what the Jervois plan was trying to achieve for the security of the Colony.
It clearly shows the key defence instillations, including:
Fort Largs.
Fort Glenelg
Fort Glanville.
Torpedo Station
North Arm powder Magazine
Adelaide Magazine
Adelaide Armoury and Police Barracks
Port Adelaide Rifle Butts.
His fears were confirmed in 1882, with the unannounced arrival of three Russian naval ships.
According to the Adelaide Observer, three Russian naval ships arrived at Holdfast Bay, in February 1882. They included the Afrika, Vestnik and Plastoun.In 1882, South Australians were very uneasy when, for a second occasion, the colony was visited by the Russian Navy. This turned to relief when the visit proved friendly, with shipboard visits by the public, although the Russian officers were spared the almost obligatory cricket match against the SACA, being treated to a picnic on top of Mount Lofty instead!
By 1883, Fort Largs was built.
In addition, in 1884, South Australia Colonial government purchased a naval steamer, The Protector, in response to the threat of the “Russian Scare”.
The ship role was to defend South Australia’s costal ports and towns from foreign assaults.

Photo of: The Protector

The Torpedo Station
The Torpedo Station was completed in 1885.
It was located on the south bank of the entrance to the North Arm of the Port River.
A newspaper account in the South Australian Registers gives a detailed account of the purpose of the torpedo station. The station comprised of a 110 feet long galvanised building. The building contained three sections: a storeroom, a lecture room and a residence for the torpedo officer. In 1890 and 1891, the facility was extended so that the torpedo station could protect Port Adelaide in the event of war. This involved the placing of a boom of heavy chains across the Port River. This would be supported by a gun battery. The station could also mine the Port River. In 1905, the station acquired a torpedo boat.
By 1911, the torpedo station had been extended, consisting of a boathouse, jetty with tramway and slipway.

The Royal Navy memo ,shows a detailed description of the Torpedo Station

The facility soon became obsolescent and was completely dismantled by the end of 1917.

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