Apart from the chaos of so many men going down with food poisoning, the surgery had also been busy. One of the Aboriginal kids had fallen out of a tree and broken his leg; Mrs Baker had been so distracted by the disappearance of her boys she’d sliced through her finger as she’d been chopping up meat for a stew, and the heavily pregnant Mary had gone into labour.

Mary had arrived accompanied by the rest of her large brood as well as several aunts, her grandmother and mother-in-law. Birthing was women’s work, so there was no sign of her husband. Terence had had to shoo them all out when it became apparent it would be a breech birth, and as he delivered the baby, he and Sandra could clearly hear their chanting from the veranda.

‘Talk about being thrown in at the deep end,’ said Terence as they left mother and baby contentedly tucked up in bed on the side veranda, well away from the sick men. ‘You coped brilliantly, Sandra.’

‘Is it usual to let them light a fire on a bit of tin and have the whole family camp out beside the patient?’

‘It’s their way,’ he replied. ‘In the old days we had willow and daub humpies set out in the garden for them – they were suspicious of our white man’s building. They’d light a small fire in front of the openings so they were kept in touch with their Ancestor Spirits, and the rest of the family would stay until they were well.’

‘Extraordinary,’ she murmured.

‘Yes, it is rather, and you’d be amazed at how quickly they recover too. If they’re sent away to hospital in Brisbane, it’s as if distancing them from their spiritual ties weakens them, and they take much longer to recuperate.’

‘Well, I need to get changed and have a proper wash,’ said Sandra, grimacing at the stains on her blouse and white apron. ‘Isn’t there any fresh water in this place?’

‘Only from the spring and the rainwater tanks, but with the levels so low, that’s strictly for drinking. Everything else is taken from the bore.’

Sandra wrinkled her dainty nose. ‘It smells,’ she said. ‘Even after my bath this morning, I didn’t feel clean.’ She picked up her hat and sighed. ‘I knew it was primitive out here, but I didn’t expect to have to wash in swamp water.’

Terence realised this was not the moment to give her a lecture on the mineral-rich bore water and changed the subject. ‘It was lovely having you working with me today,’ he said softly. ‘Quite like old times.’

She smiled wearily back at him and tucked stray wisps of fair hair behind her ears. ‘I’d forgotten how exhausting nursing was. I feel as if I’ve been run over by a steamroller.’