Doctors’ Dilemma: Appraising the Rights of New South Wales Leprosy Sufferers, 1890–1950

In 1890, the New South Wales government passed legislation/or the isolation and detention of people with leprosy. Ostensibly applicable to all and providing for indefinite incarceration in the lazaret, the legislation gained a reputation for being exceptionally harsh. By examining the creation of this legislation and its implementation over the following four decades, this article shows that in its design and application, the law targeted the colony's marginalised—the poor, the itinerant, and, to a lesser extent, the Chinese—whereas wealthier and more educated Europeans were spared its force. It shows doctors 'reluctance to comply with the law in the knowledge their patients would be subjected to what the medical superintendent of the lazaret called 'the most miserable existence I can conceive of'.