It’s possible, had I not been sick with sunflower and sorghum, that I might have initiated my enquiries more subtly. But I doubt if I would have got anywhere anyway. Both girls were cautious and non-committal. Jude expressed what I took to be a general pessimism about the future of black/white relations in the area. There was no work for the Aborigines, and although there were many schemes encouraging employers to take them on – generous grants and concessions and so on – few were prepared to do so. Because of her manner of expelling her words – through closed lips and a locked jaw – Jude spoke with a sort of authoritative desolateness. This is very much a style in Australian cities, especially close to the universities. You don’t speak, you let off small explosives. Sue, on the other hand, was a country girl. When I brought up the subject of Land Rights – a no-no in Western Australia – she found a quaint pastoral phrase to describe the proliferation of Aboriginal claims. ‘They’re certainly getting a bit of a spread on,’ she said.

Later in the afternoon we drove down to the Ord River, on the way to the Diversion Dam. A party of Aborigines was picnicking under the trees and swimming in the river. Some of the women stood fully clothed, up to their chests in the water. One was absolutely motionless, looking out across the river, lost in thought. She was at least seventy. An old white-haired man bobbed about near her. The rest sat and talked or fished. All the scene lacked to make it paradise was Fred Luff, his face creased with enjoyment.

We were surprised when Sue drove her bus right to the water’s edge, into their very midst, so that we could get a better look at them.

‘What’s the etiquette of this?’ Ros asked.

Sue turned her neat little face to us. ‘Sorry?’ she asked.

Momentary deafness is a fascinating psychological phenomenon. Fear and loathing, I am convinced, lie behind most requests to have a statement repeated.

‘Do they like it,’ Ros said, ‘when you drive so close to them?’

Sue was all smiles now. Her hearing had come back and her voice had found extra lilt. ‘Depends. Some are O.K. Especially outside, on the reservations. They like to tell you about themselves and to show you their babies. But in town they’re not always delighted. Some of them can be quite rude.’

That last sentence had a question mark before as well as after it, so that it should really be punctuated in the Spanish fashion: ‘¿Some of them can be quite rude?’

‘Fancy that,’ Ros said, without interrogatives.