DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29881058.v2
title: Mapping smallpox cases and vaccination efforts in New South Wales, 1830 to 1834: Supporting material for the article, ‘Smallpox on the limits of location: the politics of diagnosis in New South Wales, 1830-34’

description: This material provides data associated a table and map showing smallpox cases and vaccination sites reported by John Mair, Assistant Surgeon of the 39th Regiment, and by other sources, and included in the article ‘Smallpox on the limits of location: the politics of diagnosis in New South Wales, 1830-34’ accepted for publication in <i>Australian Historical Studies</i> in August 2025.This material consists of two original files in a variety of formats:<b>Table1_References</b> – an extended version of table 1 in the article including two additional tables:<b> </b><b>metadata: </b>metadata (or field descriptions) describing each field in <b>Table1_References; </b><b>sources: </b>a table with full reference details for the references used for each point.<b>Figure1_LargeVersion</b> – a larger version of Figure 1 in the related article.<br><b>Table1_References</b> is supplied in the following formats: csv, xlsx and gpkg (geopackage, a geospatial variant of Sqlite), and kml.<b>Figure1_LargeVersion </b>is supplied as a JPG file. It has as a basemap, the following map:P.L. Bemi, <i>Map of the County of Bathurst and Parts of the Adjacent Counties</i> (Sydney, 1829), Z/M4 812.2gbbd/1829/1, State Library of New South Wales. https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VM0NGRO4DAFigure annotations showing placenames, named pastoral estates and smallpox cases recorded in 1831, as numbered in <b>Table1_References.</b>Responsible use disclaimerPlease note that the locations provided in this dataset are approximate and based on the best information available at the time of preparation. The process of georeferencing archival sources with vague spatial references is always uncertain. These datapoints make sense only at a large, regional scale. Please do not use this material to claim that specific places (such as houses or rivers) were where the events described occurred.Article abstractIn the early 1830s a smallpox epidemic impacted First Nations communities across much of southeastern Australia. Colonial medical officers debated the diagnosis of this outbreak, arguing whether it was smallpox or chickenpox. This article examines this debate in detail, reading archival sources in their broader context. Historical-Geographical Information Systems (H-GIS) is used to map where smallpox was reported, revealing presences and absences in the archival record. The 1830s smallpox/chickenpox debate was highly political, for the outbreak occurred in a contested geography, where martial law had been declared just seven years earlier. Pastoralists were growing rich from sheep and cattle grazing upon recently stolen land. To argue for a smallpox diagnosis, was to also argue for the implementation of state-sponsored vaccination (as seen in other contemporary colonial settings). A chickenpox diagnosis, meanwhile, excused settler inaction, maintained the pastoralists dominance, and enabled many to largely ignore the epidemic while it was happening.