Peter Hobbins - Four legs good, no legs bad? Dogs, snakes, doctors and police in colonial Australia скачать в хорошем качестве

Peter Hobbins - Four legs good, no legs bad? Dogs, snakes, doctors and police in colonial Australia

History House, 5th March 2014 - Podcast produced by RAHS Volunteer, Miriam Paz Animals were everywhere in colonial Australia, but few creatures travelled so far in public opinion as dogs and snakes. Valued for their hunting prowess, dogs were perhaps the earliest beasts transformed by white settlers to suit their new environment and also among the first to proliferate beyond the control of colonists. As early as the 1820’s, hounds gone ‘wild’ posed a significant threat to public order and livestock, prompting some of the world’s earliest Dog Acts to corral, castrate and kill unwanted canines. Over the same period, Australia’s indigenous snakes likewise became vilified. Initially considered benign, the colonists’ observations of snakebite in their animals – as much as in humans – led them to fear and loathe local serpents. Dogs, in particular, were frequent victims of snakebite. By the 1850’s, such occurrences were no longer accidental. Roving snake showmen and antidote sellers employed ‘curs’ and pets alike to demonstrate the fatal effects of envenomation and, all going well, the efficacy of their remedies. Into the 1880’s, the frequency and prominence of these lay experiments set public standards of proof, which materially affected the claims and conduct of colonial doctors in treating snakebite. Being responsible for controlling unlicensed strays, regulating public performances and recording violent deaths, colonial police were constantly at the centre of these exhibitions of animal suffering. Indeed, into the twentieth century, constables and magistrates played significant roles in establishing which Australian snakes were ‘dangerous’ and which treatments appeared effective. About the speaker: Peter Hobbins is an historian of science and medicine who recently completed his PhD on venomous animals in colonial Australia and New Zealand.