consequences and significance of the 1918 influenza epidemic:
The 1918 influenza epidemic had many impacts, both long and short term, for New Zealand society. These impacts are of great significance to New Zealanders, particularly the long term impacts, as they manage to affect New Zealand society to this day.
Male and Female Death Rates in New Zealand. Green is male, yellow is female.
One major short term impact was the number of deaths. It’s guessed that between 6400-8600 New Zealanders died. (10). The exact number was estimated to be 8, 537. (11). Thus the influenza epidemic resulted in a death toll larger than any other caused by a New Zealand disaster. Generally, more men died than women. The majority of men who died were mainly 30 -34 years old.
The influenza epidemic ended up robbing New Zealand communities of individuals with plenty of potential, such Israel Philips, a prominent member of the Jewish community and an upstanding citizen in general. Needless to say, the influenza resulted in plenty of broken families.
Due to the major loss of lives, the government was heavily criticized and George Russell, head of the Health Department, ended up losing his seat in the November 1919 Christchurch election. This short term impact actually turned into a long term impact as to the very end of his days, Russell was left defending his and his department’s actions during the crisis, right up until his death in 1937.
The influenza epidemic ended up robbing New Zealand communities of individuals with plenty of potential, such Israel Philips, a prominent member of the Jewish community and an upstanding citizen in general. Needless to say, the influenza resulted in plenty of broken families.
Due to the major loss of lives, the government was heavily criticized and George Russell, head of the Health Department, ended up losing his seat in the November 1919 Christchurch election. This short term impact actually turned into a long term impact as to the very end of his days, Russell was left defending his and his department’s actions during the crisis, right up until his death in 1937.
Also, as a direct result of the influenza, the New Zealand workforce was depleted. This in turn lead to a shortage of tramcars, and public post and telegraph services being delayed. Basic materials, such as coal, sugar and flour, also became increasingly harder to come by. Shipping, cargo and factory production basically came to a grinding halt.
One particular commodity that did was not too hard to come by, however, was medicine. Brand new cold medicine was developed and marketed. This medicine was produced in response to the public’s fear of the influenza virus; no one wanted to risk falling sick again so soon after the event. The medicine that was advertised by companies, such as Heenzo’s Coughs--Colds--Croup Catarrh, sold very well.
One particular commodity that did was not too hard to come by, however, was medicine. Brand new cold medicine was developed and marketed. This medicine was produced in response to the public’s fear of the influenza virus; no one wanted to risk falling sick again so soon after the event. The medicine that was advertised by companies, such as Heenzo’s Coughs--Colds--Croup Catarrh, sold very well.
As the communities of New Zealand had been devastated by the major loss of life during the epidemic, they were more open to new ideas and opinions. The Maori community in particular had suffered heavily. The influenza epidemic had taken four times as many Maori lives as non Maori lives. That’s 5516 Maori deaths to 1200 non Maori deaths. (12) This is thought to have occurred because of their comparatively lower housing, clothing and nourishment standards. In the Maori community’s shock and grief stricken state after the influenza epidemic, Ratana, a Maori man, was able to successfully achieve his goal of turning the Maori people towards God. Thus the influenza epidemic actually aided him in convincing some of the Maori population to accept God and Christianity.
The Spanish Influenza was demoralizing for everyone, from doctors to your average citizens, for a myriad of reasons. Research scientists, physicians and doctors had been unable to effectively treat all patients. Public health officials’ attempts at preventing the disease had not done much; the majority of people had still been infected. And everyone had had to watch loved ones, or people they knew, die from the sickness. Needless to say, during the epidemic, and even after the epidemic disappeared, New Zealand society was in a grim mood.
The Spanish Influenza also resulted in people viewing one another in a different light. If someone had helped out during the epidemic they were labelled as brave, upstanding citizens, and admired. If someone had hidden away during the epidemic, they were labelled as cowards.
A major short term impact was that from New Zealand, the influenza virus was spread further along the Pacific. It was transported to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. In those countries many people were affected. The disease decimated their populations.
A long term impact of this consequence was that survivors of the disease in places such as Samoa used this as the foundation for further complaints and criticisms of New Zealand’s administration. The New Zealand government was blamed for not containing the disease’s spread.
A long term impact of this consequence was that survivors of the disease in places such as Samoa used this as the foundation for further complaints and criticisms of New Zealand’s administration. The New Zealand government was blamed for not containing the disease’s spread.
There were numerous long term impacts as well, mainly in the form of memorials. These memorials are significant as they serve to remind New Zealanders today of the major loss of life in 1918.
In memory of the many Maori that had died, a carved wooden cenotaph was constructed at Te Koura marae.
A memorial for Dr Margaret Cruikshank, New Zealand’s first registered female doctor, was also constructed. Dr Margaret Cruikshank had died in the 1918 influenza epidemic, while working extremely hard to treat her patients. Her monument was situated on the corner of Seddon Square in Waimate. The words “The Beloved Physician/Faithful unto Death” were carved on it. (14)
There was a monument in honor of Dr. Charles Little, who also exhausted himself during the epidemic, working tirelessly to help his patients. In the end, he caught Pneumonia and died on the 26th November, 1918. His statue was placed in front of Waikari Hospital.
Additionally, a memorial was constructed for the large number of people who died due to the influenza and were buried without gravestones, in Auckland’s Waikumete Cemetery.
These are just a few of the many monuments constructed in the memory of the large number of people who died during the 1918 influenza epidemic.
In the immediate aftermath of the influenza, the Department of Public Health was heavily criticized. As a response to the criticisms, George W. Russell, head of the department at the time, ordered there to be an enquiry about the epidemic. The Royal Commission (also known as the Epidemic Commission) was set up and it produced a report. The gist of the report was that the Department of Health had been understaffed during the epidemic and that bureaucrats were slow in reacting to the crisis. This information was presented to the public on 18th June, 1919. The NZ truth, a newspaper at the time, responded by declaring that “the graves of many victims of the dreadful scourge are the monuments of incompetence.” (3). Thus the government was further criticized. One of the recommendations made by the Royal Commission was to produce a new Health Act, which would “consolidate and simplify the existing legislation” (4). The government took this idea on board.
Thus a short term impact turned into an important long term impact; the new and improved 1920 Health Act. Robert Makgill was the main brain involved in writing up the act, which was construed to be “the most useful legacy of the 1918 influenza pandemic”(13). Hence Makgill ended up playing a key role in the improvement of New Zealand’s public health system. The 1920 Health Act had procedures for dealing with similar events to that of the 1918 influenza epidemic, and remained unchanged until a revamp in 1956, meaning it was a well constructed Health Act.
A long term impact of the influenza epidemic was the major lesson it taught New Zealand. Even now, to this very day, when New Zealand has a good system of virological surveillance, it is understood that sometimes a disease will be able to cause a high rate of infection. This is a possibility that, despite being inexplicable (they are not able to predict which disease in particular will be extremely infectious), still exists.
Thus, in these ways, the 1918 Influenza Pandemic was extremely significant and managed to greatly impact New Zealand society at the time, and still manages to affect and hold importance to New Zealand society to this day.