Page 82 - Tropic Magazine Issue 24

TROPIC • REGIONAL HISTORY

Apart from his best-selling fever mixture
and international significance for
connecting mosquitoes to the spread of
malaria, Dr Koch found time to make
regular visits to sugar plantations and
other sites around the district, urging
gangs of workmen to “roll down their
shirt sleeves from 4pm each day” to
prevent mosquito bites.
Local historian Mrs T Dillon described
Dr Koch in a paper written for the Cairns
1 Historical Society: “He wore a frock coat
with large pockets containing bottles
Just the tonic of medicine in case of need, and often
lollies for the children. But we found out
DOCTOR’S ORDERS afterwards they were not sweets at all -
just medicine. It was a nice little way of
In Tropic’s take on our region’s giving it to you instead of off the spoon.”
history, we celebrate a local 2 Dr Koch’s generous spirit – he would
doctor with an international first medical professionals in Australia often decline to charge a fee for his GP
services to poor families in Cairns –
reputation. – and the world – to recognise the role and his involvement in the town’s civic
the mosquito played as the carrier of affairs, earned him a beloved place
Words: Gavin King the malaria parasite, before scientific in local history, with the erection of a
experiments confirmed it in the late public memorial in 1903, two years after
A deadly fever raged on the mining 1890s. his death.
fields, in the railway construction camps, To combat the disease and ease the The memorial – a fountain formed
and on the sugar plantations. And it suffering of patients, he launched Dr in marble – can be viewed at ANZAC
took an entrepreneurial Cairns doctor – Koch’s Fever Mixture, a unique remedy Park, adjacent to the Reef Hotel Casino,
recently arrived from Germany – to help with the simple inscription: “Erected
curb the spread on a local and, indirectly, by the citizens of Cairns and district
global scale. to the memory of Dr Koch, 1901”. His
It was the late 19th Century, and Cairns name also lives on through the Dr
was a burgeoning town trying to keep He wore a frock coat with Edward Koch Foundation, a non-profit
pace with urbanisation. large pockets containing organisation focusing and supporting
But drainage infrastructure didn’t public health activities in regional
keep up with population growth and bottles of medicine in case Queensland.
the waterlogged streets became the of need, and often lollies
ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes,
now in close proximity to new housing for the children. But we
developments. found out afterwards they
By the 1880s, shortly after Cairns elected
its first Mayor Richard Ash Kingsford, were not sweets at all - just
mosquito-borne diseases such as medicine.
malaria and typhoid were endemic.
At about the same time, a German
doctor was granted a first-class
certificate to practice medicine by the
Queensland Government. Dr Edward
Koch, who emigrated to Australia concocted with the assistance of local
after serving as a medical officer in pharmacy Craig’s Chemist on Abbott
the German army, took the Oath of Street, where it retailed for the bargain
Allegiance in Cairns to become an price of 4 shillings. The tonic featured a
Australian citizen in April 1882. unique blend of quinine and lemon juice,
Shortly after, he served as Cairns which was (according to some reports) 3
Hospital’s Health Officer, running the dissolved in diluted sulphuric acid, and 1. Dr. Koch’s memorial at ANZAC Park, 1901
hospital along with his private practice. its label instructions recommended 2. Dr. Koch’s memorial at ANZAC Park, 2020 : Saskia
As cases of malaria and typhoid became “one tablespoonful in water night and and Percy King
more prevalent, Dr Koch was among the morning”. 3. Dr Koch’s Fever Tonic bottle: Cairns Historical
Society

82 • Tropic • Issue 24