A Pandemic Remembrance

Hard on the heels of drought and bushfire, we have been hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic which has us “social distancing”, taking our temperatures and learning to wash our hands like never before.

Fortunately, it is really physical distancing that is required and most of us have been able to stay connected with our phones, emails and internet. For our family, the big change has been not taking our young pre-school grand-daughters on Fridays, but for our daughters and their husbands it means working from home on their computers while supervising active three and four-year olds, who are being kept away from day care. Living in suburban Sydney, it is strange to see nearly every shop closed, but we can still go for a walk and buy what we need. We worry for our elderly parents in retirement homes where they receive the care they need but apparently are at most risk of infection. While I stayed at home through summer and ran my solar-powered air conditioning to avoid the bushfire smoke, my husband went to Italy for three weeks and then on to New York for ten days to visit one of our daughters who lives there. He arrived home safely just ahead of the Covid-19 infections, while some of our HAFS members also returned home from cruises. What a near miss this seems and I know we are very fortunate in many ways.

For many people in Australia and around the world this is a financial crisis. Some of you have just had extreme trauma and losses from the recent bushfires and now recovery is hampered by the current restrictions. Hopefully the government’s financial assistance packages will blunt the pain while we slowly restart activities and wait for widespread testing and vaccines. Our co-operative spirit in Australia seems to have worked in our favour, combined perhaps with being a small population and geographical distance by world standards.

It’s being forecast that the economic impact will be on a scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Let’s hope not but time will tell. It is dismal looking back at the stories of that time and remembering stories my grandmother told me, but economists and politicians have learnt lessons from history and have responded quickly. Surely it makes a difference too to have the power of broadcast television and the internet for sharing information quickly.

Our coronavirus pandemic has been compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920, which was unknown to some of us. Even though this affected nearly half the Australian population and globally killed more people than the First World War, it was overshadowed by stories of the War. While the War injured and killed mainly men, the Spanish Flu caused the deaths of many young women who had to nurse returned soldiers and local families stricken ill. A review of our Hungerfords Down Under data shows two adults who died. Kate Agnes Hungerford [E2.1a], the older sister of my great-great grandfather, died on 9 July 1919 at the emergency influenza hospital at Wallsend and Henry Wakefield Simpson [W1.4a.1b] died in July 1917 at the Pneumonic Influenza Hospital at the showground in Muswellbrook. There are also many infants who died in 1918 to 1920. Thank goodness, our children seem mildly affected on the whole by this current virus. And fortunately, like the economy, epidemiology has learnt much from history and has new technologies for finding solutions.

These are strange times. We have just had Easter with no family gatherings or church services, and this ANZAC Day there were be no public ceremonies. People stood at dawn in their driveways, on their balconies, and, keeping their distance, at some beaches and parks to remember those who served in war. More than ever, families are remembering the impact of Vietnam and Afghanistan and more recent battles.

As the months ahead unfold, let’s not forget all the people who are recovering from the bushfires and working in our hospitals. Our HAFS Committee had trips to Orange and Dubbo planned, and I was looking forward to trips to the Central Coast and further north to Nundle to research family history. These are postponed obviously, but we all look forward to getting together soon.