First Fleet vials of dried smallpox scabs linked to 1789 Indigenous Australian outbreak
A Nature Human Behaviour modeling study argues the 1789 smallpox outbreak among Indigenous Australians was likely sparked by vials of dried smallpox scabs kept by British medics on the First Fleet, possibly replenished during the voyage, rather than introduced from Makassar islanders; the outbreak devastated Indigenous communities with an estimated 220,000 deaths and prompts revised views of pre-1788 Indigenous populations.