Australia's attitude to its indigenous people is back under the microscope after an Aboriginal woman who had a stroke was left for dead at a bus stop and ignored by hundreds of passers-by for five hours.

Delmae Barton, 62, an opera singer, had a stroke and mild heart attack on her way to work at Queensland's Griffith University earlier this month.

Barely conscious and lying in a pool of vomit at a bus shelter, she was ignored by hundreds of commuters and students until help finally came from two Japanese men.

'The other people were treating me like a freak,' Barton said. The incident has been condemned as typical of white Australians' prejudice that an Aboriginal in trouble must be a down-and-out or drunk. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the episode shamed Australia.

Barton's agent, Janelle Colquhoun, said: 'I think if she'd been a white man in a business suit she might have been there for five minutes. But because she's an Aboriginal lady she was there for five hours.

'Something like this is a huge blow and she's really, really upset and just can't quite believe just how awfully she was treated. She's such a calm and good-natured person and she won't be really angry about this just disappointed people could do this.'

Speaking from her bed at Brisbane's Queen Elizabeth II hospital, Barton said she harbours no bitterness towards the students and workers who looked straight through her. But she is adamant that it would not have happened to a white woman.

'I was stereotyped. People thought maybe I was drunk as I was face down vomiting. To put it bluntly there is still racism in Australia.'

A recent opinion poll found two-thirds of Australians thought there was underlying racism in the country and 40 per cent said it was a racist nation.

The race riots that scarred Sydney's beachside suburbs last December were a reminder of the tensions and the Barton case has given a stark reminder that Aboriginals are bottom of the pile.

An official investigation into why Barton was left for so long in such a public place continues. Bus drivers and security staff will be questioned.

Beattie has apologised to her. 'It really does say something about us,' he told the state parliament in Brisbane.

'Australians are noted for their fair go, their commitment to compassion. We should never lose it. Even in this 21st century, in which we live, we shouldn't lose the dignity and respect that goes with the old, traditional values.'

Bronwyn Bancroft, a renowned Aboriginal artist, believes Australia has become a meaner place.

She said: 'It's typical of the society developing where people look just after their own. It's very American but we gotta be better than that. We must look after each other.'

Bancroft was shocked but not surprised that Barton could be left for dead at a bus stop.

'It highlights the persecution of Aboriginal people because people do think "Oh god, there's a down-and-out, could be drunk or whatever".

'It's just incredibly bad anyone would walk past a person like that. I think there's a heap of work to be done to help indigenous Australians achieve equality in this country.'

Source: The Observer