The 1918–1919 influenza pandemic is considered among the greatest natural disasters of recorded history. Emerging in the final months of the Great War, in the short space of a little more a year the pandemic swept around the world, killing between 50 and 100 million people. In Australia, the virus affected the lives of millions and had catastrophic emotional and economic consequences on a population reeling from war loss. Over a period of about eight months in 1919 probably 12,000 - 15,000 died from Spanish flu and possibly as many as two million Australians were infected. Marriages were dissolved through the death of a spouse, children were orphaned or left with just one parent, or died.

Despite the huge death toll and catastrophic social effects, few monuments or cenotaphs have been erected in memory of the millions who died. This paper will seek to redress the lack of attention given to Spanish flu and its victims in Australia and the hidden legacy/s of the virus.