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Kempsey is a town near the Eastern shore of New South Wales, Australia. In a nation that has long struggled with racial prejudice and the rights of their native peoples, Kempsey has a particularly ugly reputation; in 1967, when the question of aboriginals being included in the national census was put to a vote, Kempsey contributed the highest number of votes against native peoples being counted as citizens. In addition, Kempsey was home to a home for aboriginal children that was infamous for its abuse, and a bloody slaughter of blacks took place there in 1838. So there's a certain grim irony in the fact that in the 21st Century, one of the biggest nursing homes in Kempsey is owned and operated by aboriginals, caring for both white and native patients. The checkered history of Kempsey is remembered by the staff and patients at this home for the aged in the documentary Northern Town, in which the town's story is told by eyewitnesses on both sides of the racial divide. Northern Town was screened as an official selection at the 2008 Sheffield International Documentary Festival.