Tuberculosis in the nineteenth century was a big business in the British Empire. With the development of mineral spa towns in Australia, the promulgation of localities deemed to be the most suitable for the treatment of tuberculosis “meant there was no slow accretion of legend or folk medicine… it was always self-consciously scientific” in how sites were appraised and described.
Why do we tell those eerie stories, the ones we share at social events? Ghost stories often reveal more about a community’s concerns at a specific point in time. One such example can be found in suburban Melbourne, Australia.
The most surprising, and interesting find during my PhD candidature has been the historical aerial photography that is available for the city of Melbourne.