Groundbreaking modeling has revealed that as many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians died in a devastating 1789 smallpox outbreak that originated in Sydney, tracing its origins to the First Fleet. Soon after British ships arrived, smallpox swept through First Nations communities in the Sydney area, a nd many died as a result. The study found that the epidemic had a devastating demographic impact and ramifications for how First Nations people resisted colonization and their capacity to manage the country, with the impact still being felt today. ...read more read less