00:00The health system just didn't seem to look after the people in the north in the same
00:09way that they did the people of the south.
00:12It's the 1950s in Cairns in far north Queensland, and 18-year-old Dulcie Flower is beginning
00:17a career in nursing.
00:19She's a proud Merriam woman, the culture of the Torres Strait is, in her words, the very
00:24core of her being.
00:26Respect for elders is paramount, and when a police officer walked a revered Torres
00:30Strait Islander man known as Old Pop into the emergency department with a busted lip,
00:35she knew something was wrong.
00:38He was hit by one of the policemen, he was belted in the mouth.
00:42Nobody even thought of challenging police or taking them to court for assault or things
00:49like that.
00:50It was just accepted.
00:54Dulcie went to the police station to make a complaint.
00:56For her trouble, she was shifted out of the casualty department, but far from damaging
01:01her career, the brave stand was a sign of what was to come.
01:05The old people always talked about respect, Mum did too, and to me, respect was a two-way
01:10process.
01:11Aunty Dulcie's made it her business to stand up for First Nations people.
01:16On a trip back to far north Queensland in the 1980s, she realised Torres Strait Islander
01:21people with diabetes were suffering needlessly because of a lack of preventative care.
01:26And I happened to go to the nurse's station and there were photos of Torres Strait people
01:33with crutches and legs missing.
01:37I thought, what on earth, and here they were, all displayed.
01:41A lot of people are having their legs amputated, and I could not believe it, and nothing's
01:49been done.
01:51Dulcie went back to Sydney and lobbied doctors and at medical conferences for change.
01:56Looking at diets, looking at family history, looking at exercise, the whole lifestyle thing.
02:03When Dulcie started her career, she was one of a handful of Indigenous nurses.
02:08She's now buoyed knowing there are thousands.
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