Self-Inflicted Wounds

In the decades that followed the gold rush, Melbourne was an energetic and at times anarchic city. Frederick McCoy's vivid accounts of fatalities and near-death experiences resulting from mishandling snakes in public places provide an idiosyncratic window into the evolving metropolis.

The Port Phillip Club Hotel in Flinders Street.

He inadvertently described the struggle to understand a newfound environment and its creatures, as some curious colonists tried to turn a profit from Victoria's most dangerous natural resources.

... a police magistrate bitten on the arm by a Tiger Snake, died in 24 hours; a man named Underwood, a well known vendor of a supposed antidote, was bitten in public by one of this species and was dead within an hour; another man named Cartwright, exhibiting some of these snakes, was bitten and also died within an hour. Dr. Casey, of Brighton, reported a case in which a man died within a half hour of the bite; and a man named Griffiths, handling some of these snakes as an exhibition at the Port Phillip Club Hotel, was bitten by a Tiger Snake, and died in less than half an hour. The symptoms seem to be much alike in all cases if snake-bite, viz.:-At first faintness and slight convulsions, then sickness of the stomach (probably a reflex action from the brain), with trembling and weakness in the limbs ; the pupils of the eyes dilated, a tendency to sleep, and then total paralysis and coma immediately preceding death.

Join the mailing list and get the latest from our Museums direct to your inbox.

Share your thoughts to WIN

We'd love to hear about your experience with our website. Our survey takes less than 10 minutes and entries go in a draw to win a $100 gift voucher at our online store!