In 1868 the Queensland Government enacted the Prevention of Contagious Diseases Act 1868, which enforced the compulsory examination of prostitutes for STIs and their housing in the Brisbane lock hospital at Herston until "cured".

[1] Meston's proposals, and their influence in shaping subsequent legislation and its administration, marked a significant change both in Queensland and Australia in government control over Aboriginal people.

[1] Settlements at Durundur (near Woodford, c.1897), Whitula (near Windorah) in western Queensland (briefly in operation in response to the 1902 drought) and Fraser Island (1897) were beset by a range of problems and did not last, with the latter experiencing a very high death rate among inmates.

[1][12] A 66,000-imperial-gallon (300,000 L; 79,000 US gal) water reservoir was completed behind (west of) the lock hospital site, which was located at the narrow, central portion of Fantome Island, facing Curacoa Channel, by November 1926.

Dr CR Maitland Pattison was the visiting medical superintendent, and buildings included male and female wards, irrigation chambers, laundries, "native officials" cottages, wardsman's quarters, a store and kitchens.

[1] An influx of patients resulted in the approval of extensions and additions to the lock hospital in 1931, and two cases of suspected Hansen's disease were also tested and found to be positive.

During 1932 a number of cases of STI and Hansen's disease contacts were sent to Fantome Island for observation after Dr Raphael West Cilento, the Federal Director of the Division of Tropical Hygiene for Queensland, had inspected coastal camps between Townsville and Cairns and on the Atherton Tablelands.

[1][18] In another cost-saving measure, the lock hospital attempted to achieve self sufficiency in food production, reflecting the earlier view of Meston that the first duty of reserves was "that they be self-supporting institutions".

He also noted that the difficulty of finding staff willing to work with Hansen's disease or STI patients could be dealt with by using nuns from the nursing branch of a religious body.

[1][33] The site for the lazaret and laboratory already possessed a reticulated water supply, and the grass huts of the chronic STI cases could provide accommodation for 60 people (the previous occupants were later moved to Wallaby Point on Palm Island).

[1] Tentative arrangements had been made to construct huts, set on concrete floors with fibrolite walls and galvanised iron roofs, for the Hansen's disease patients by 20 March 1939.

The proposed lazaret was intended to include a laboratory with offices and wards, quarters for four sisters of a religious sisterhood, a European wardsman and Palm Island staff, plus huts for 100 patients, with kitchen, store and dining buildings and lavatories.

In addition, she complained that the food at Fantome Island was "of the very poorest class", with very rough corned beef, potatoes, onions, rice, tea, sugar, oatmeal and very bad bread, initially "supplied very sparingly".

[1] Although Julian admitted that there were difficulties in obtaining fruit, green vegetables and fresh milk, he insinuated that the Peel Island patients had been treated too well previously and had become fussy.

Earlier that year, after a medical survey of the lock hospital, Dr Johnson had discovered that the majority of the inmates showed no signs of STIs, and a number were discharged.

[1][71] In May 1953 Hinton and the Relatives and Friends Association presented Fryberg and the Director of Native Affairs with a list of complaints made by patients of Fantome Island, alleging a lack of supervision of cooking, no treatment on Sundays or public holidays, overly strict supervision of visits by friends and relatives (two hours every three months), sick patients being neglected in their huts, and a "work or starve" regime.

It was argued that Fantome Island had outlived its usefulness, as continuous dosage with sulphone drugs for three months or more rendered the vast majority of Hansen's disease patients non-infectious.

On the south-west side of the saddle are the women's, men's and married couples' quarters, the supply centre and surrounds (including the open air cinema, sewing room and butcher), school house, dispensaries and cemetery (the most southern site of the lazaret complex).

Behind the presbytery and extending up the gentle slope to the adjacent ridge is a light scatter of artefacts, including the remains of a porcelain urinal or toilet, an in situ septic downpipe, and numerous glass bottles and fragments.

An extensive scatter of building rubble is found across the site, particularly asbestos fibro fragment, CGI sheets, galvanised iron, steel pipes, and some bricks.

Also evident are three timber building stumps, a rectangular concrete block with septic access grate, an iron bath tub and two CGI water tanks to the east of the visitors' quarters.

Each platform features a set of 3-4 steps on its western end and a small square extension to the rear where there are the remains of iron stoves and cooking implements (tin kettle, bowls and pans).

A substantial section of hill face has been cut to create a level platform with a sloping concrete retaining wall measuring over two metres high in the highest corner.

The site consists of concrete pads of the single men's quarters, communal kitchens, dispensary, toilet and shower blocks, laundry and Anglican Church.

At the south-eastern extremity of the married quarters and adjacent to a tidal creek are two possible cess pits and two rectangular concrete pads (probably general laundry building remains).

The walls are separated into two sections (hereafter referred to as the northern and southern pens) by a track which crosses the lowest point of the saddle area and connects the two sides of the Island.

[1] Located immediately west of the dry stone wall enclosure complex is a large lightly treed area with low grasses and black loam to sandy soils.

The extensive archaeological remains of the former lock hospital and lazaret on Fantome Island have the potential to yield, through further investigation and comparative research, new information on the administrative, medical, domestic and agricultural activities of patients and staff.

[1] Similarly extensive are the archaeological remains of the lazaret; an important record of Queensland's largest and longest-serving island facility for the treatment of non-European Hansen's disease patients.

The visual contrast between the remnants of the lock hospital and lazaret and their picturesque but isolated tropical island setting elicits a strong aesthetic response from visitors.