Colonialism and the health transition: Aboriginal Australians and poor whites compared, Victoria, 1850-1985

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the first two longitudinal historical cradle-to-grave datasets constructed in Australia: the Aboriginal population of the state of Victoria, reconstituted backwards using genealogical research and vital registrations, 1835-1930; and an impoverished European population born at the Melbourne Lying-In Hospital, 1857-1900 and traced until 1985. It investigates the hypothesis that the health transition in indigenous people was different from that of the dominant non-indigenous population. Both of these studied sub-populations were highly stressed, resulting in high infant mortality and persistent tuberculosis mortality. The Aboriginal population suffered the add..