Looking back at the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic there are striking similarities — and stark differences — with how regional locations are dealing with today's coronavirus crisis.

Key points: A re-created photograph shows the differences between the 'Spanish flu' and today's coronavirus outbreak

A re-created photograph shows the differences between the 'Spanish flu' and today's coronavirus outbreak Medical staff during the 1919 pandemic improvised personal protection equipment amid supply shortages

Medical staff during the 1919 pandemic improvised personal protection equipment amid supply shortages Regional locations were not sheltered from the effects of the pneumonic influenza with many deaths recorded at hospitals

After Hannah Armstrong discovered a portrait of her great-grandmother during the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, she re-created the image depicting herself during the coronavirus pandemic more than a century on.

"I went 'oh my goodness, it's 100 years later and a similar thing is happening to us'," Ms Armstrong said.

"It's crazy to think we've done a bit of a loop in history."

Ms Armstrong, from Bathurst, New South Wales, donned similar clothing and a facemask, like her great-grandmother Lillian Lamph and great aunt Eleanor Sullivan wore in the original image, taken in the same town decades before.

To add a modern tone to the new scene, Ms Armstrong included props including a laptop computer, disinfectant cleaning products and rolls of toilet paper.

"I think that's something quite relevant in this pandemic," she said.

"I knew that adding that sort of humour and posting something [on social media] that's not just the news [of coronavirus], can make people smile.

The Town Hall in Orange, NSW, became a vaccination centre during the pneumonic influenza pandemic of 1919. ( Supplied: Central West Libraries )

But the original photograph reveals few clues of the societal conditions her ancestors faced during the health crisis that occurred over a century ago.

"It's opened this sort of mind up that I should definitely look through," Ms Armstrong said.

Influenza effect on towns

Orange Historical Society secretary, Liz Edwards, said regional New South Wales communities were not sheltered from the effects of Spanish flu, also known as pneumonic influenza.

"It spread across the Central West but it was particularly bad in Orange," Ms Edwards said.

Ms Edwards said although transport modes were much slower in the early 20th century, the repatriation of thousands of soldiers from war-torn Europe was a major contributing factor in the spread of the deadly disease.

"At that time there was virtually no air travel, but there was a huge movement of troops back to Australia after World War I in ships," she said.

"A lot more trains were coming to Orange from Sydney and further west and people travelled by train and that's how it got up to Orange."

The industrial town of Lithgow was a hotspot for pneumonic influenza infections with 44 deaths recorded at the local hospital. ( Supplied: National Library of Australia )

After the virus arrived in the region, the small Orange District Hospital efficiently built an isolation ward and the local town hall was later transformed into a vaccination clinic, Ms Edwards said.

"In those days the hospital was virtually run by the local community, there was very little government help," she said.

Capsaicin-impregnated cotton, mustard flour poultice and eucalyptus oil were remedies used in attempts to treat patients during the 1919 pandemic, Ms Edwards said. ( Supplied: Yarra Ranges Regional Museum )

"It was pretty much people looking after one another."

With reports of medical workers having to improvise personal protection equipment during the current coronavirus outbreak, ingenuity was also necessary in the past.

"The local nurses started making masks out of wire and mosquito netting, and apparently they worked quite well," Ms Edwards said.

Movie cinemas remained open in country towns but authorities restricted large gatherings including annual rural shows, and like nowadays, the news was not always welcomed by the public.

"Some people didn't like it, didn't like being told what to do, and particularly didn't like the fact that race meetings were being halted," she said.

Pneumonic influenza deaths around regional NSW in 1919 Hospital Number of cases Deaths Albury 263 10 Bathurst 69 6 Broken Hill 327 63 Coffs Harbour 38 5 Dubbo 11 Unknown Forbes 246 24 Goulburn 203 37 Illawarra 32 9 Lithgow 148 44 Manilla 111 11 Orange 225 14 Port Macquarie 50 1 Wagga Wagga 413 23 Source: Royal Australian Historical Society

"People were basically told to stay at home and just be careful if they had a sick relation to keep them isolated from other members of the family."

Deaths a reality

During a period of nine months over 6,300 deaths were attributed to the pneumonic influenza, with 22,000 reported cases throughout New South Wales, according to figures from the State Archives and Records.

Ms Edwards said it would have been a 'terribly worrying' time for regional residents.

"I think it was particularly bad in Europe — a lot worse than in Australia because of our small population, but it certainly had quite an impact here," Ms Edwards said.

While the final toll of the coronavirus outbreak is still uncertain, Hannah Armstrong said she feels optimistic when looking at her family's photo album with the knowledge her ancestors survived a previous global pandemic.

"I guess it gives some hope because it has happened before," she said.

Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak Download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest on how the pandemic is impacting the world