In 1964 I was on a ship returning from Europe along with 1500 British migrants when I overheard a conversation between a WA catholic priest and some of the migrants. He was telling them (probably because they asked the reason for Aboriginal stockmen's low wages) that the wages were low because when a station employed one ringer they had not only to pay and feed and house him they also had to feed his whole family also. I have seen some of the conditions that white station owners and managers lived in back in the 60-70's and they pretty rough. Scurvy was fairly common then.
