In 1968, after seeing two senior Aboriginal men from Wattie Creek as patients in his eye clinic, Fred was invited to fly up to their camp in the Northern Territory. The poor standard of health in the camp, particularly in eye health, was a shock. He couldn’t believe that people lived in these conditions in a country like Australia. Fred was especially disturbed by the huge number of children and adults suffering from blinding trachoma – a disease rarely found in the rest of Australia. He was later asked to go to Bourke, 800km from Sydney, where he found the same shocking conditions. These moments sparked Fred’s indignation and drove his desire to fight for better access to eye health and living conditions for Indigenous Australians.
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