Fire deaths in children in South Australia from 1989 to 1998
A study was undertaken of childhood deaths caused by fires in South Australia over a 10-year period from 1989 to 1998. A total of 23 deaths of children occurred with an age range of 2 months to 16 years (mean 5 years 10 months; M:F = 13:10). Fourteen deaths were associated with house fires, four with fires in cars and four were miscellaneous or unspecified. While house fire deaths remained the major cause of childhood fire deaths (65%), deaths in car fires accounted for a significant proportion of cases (17%). Although the numbers are small, cars represented a specific danger because of their confined space with highly flammable interiors, lockable doors, and built in non-childproof lighters. Cars should not be regarded as suitable places to leave young children, or for children to play in unsupervised.
Many of the population of the north-east and Cumbria lived on the verge of poverty and found earnings cut through illness, unemployment, old age or quiet trade times. Social welfare was provided by state and private sector and included the almshouse, charity, admission to the workhouse or the paying of out-relief to the poor in their own home. Care in the almshouses was only available to a small number of the population. The vast majority of the population were left to fend for themselves in old age or widowhood. Using the 1881 and 1901 census, the paper will analyse the demography of the sample almshouses, and in particular, the population over age 60 in almshouse and workhouse. Case studies of St Annes Hospital and the Aged Miner Homes highlight the lack or provision of accommodation for this age group.