Nurses ... bridging the gap: Australian aboriginals and primary health care

This paper outlines a clinical learning experience designed to provide nursing students with experience in working with the Australian Aboriginal people. It also provided an opportunity for the concepts of primary health care from the rural perspective to be observed and experienced. Walgett is 433 miles or 694 kilometers from Sydney and situated in the north west of the state of New South Wales (NSW). Australia, being a large continent of some 7,682,300 square kilometers or 2,966,153 square miles, is divided into 7 states, of which New South Wales is the most populated (National Geographic Atlas of the World, 1981).