St Kilda: emigrants and disease

During the nineteenth century the inhabitants of the remote island of St Kilda persisted in their belief that they were susceptible to disease if exposed to infection brought by visitors; these ideas were the source of much ridicule. The emigration of thirty-six islanders to Australia in 1852 resulted in excessive mortality during the voyage compared with other Highland emigrants, and the 1930 evacuation to the mainland of Scotland also revealed their susceptibility to tuberculosis.