Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this essay contains references to deceased people.

IN LATE OCTOBER 1959, in a small town in the far north-east of Western Australia, a woman brought her six-month-old to the District Hospital, known locally as the ‘White Hospital’. The baby had a bronchial complaint and had begun to choke, but the doctor refused to see it and the mother was told to take it to the Native Hospital – three miles out of town.