During my orthodontic training in the 1960s, like most orthodontists in that era, I was quite interested in Raymond Begg's presentation of the large dental arches and well-aligned teeth that are characteristic of Australian Aborigines. As it became possible to measure tongue and lip pressures against the teeth and relate them to the etiology of malocclusion, I thought it would be of considerable interest to evaluate intra-oral pressures in Australian Aboriginal people. That led to initial contact with Tas Brown and Murray Barrett at the University of Adelaide, and with their help I obtained a Fulbright fellowship to carry out such a study while on sabbatical leave from the University of Kentucky. With three children in tow, my wife and I travelled by ship to Sydney, and I cemented my reputation as an eccentric by continuing to Adelaide by train. When I got off the train wearing cowboy boots, I'm sure I was the strangest looking specimen of visiting professor the welcoming group had ever seen.

At that point the regular collection of growth data at Yuendumu was coming to an end, and a number of related studies already had been carried out there. With Murray Barrett as the expedition leader and David Parker and Leslie Reynolds to help, we sent my research equipment up to Alice Springs via train, flew up, rented a Land Rover, loaded it up and set out down the dirt track to Yuendumu.