The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
artists.
Background and description
The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the
Australia Council for the Arts
Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia.
The council was announ ...
.
It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...
or
Torres Strait Islander
Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...
) artist for lifetime achievement.
is one of four categories awarded at the
First Nations Arts Awards (formerly National Indigenous Arts Awards)
on 27 May each year.
Recipients
2020s
*Uncle Badger Bates (2024)
*Aunty
Mabel Juli
__NOTOC__
Mabel Juli (born 1931) is a contemporary artist from the East Kimberley in Western Australia.
Early life
Juli was born in 1931 or 1932 at Five Mile, near Moola Boola Station. Her traditional name is Wiringoon and her traditional co ...
(2024)
*
Uncle Bob Weatherall (2023)
*
Aunty Sandra Hill (2023)
[
*]Stephen Page
Stephen George Page is an Aboriginal Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He was artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company, from 1991 until 2022. During this time he choreograp ...
AO (2022)
*Destiny Deacon
Destiny Deacon HonFRPS (6 February 1957 – 23 May 2024) was an Australian photographer, broadcaster, political activist and media artist. She exhibited photographs and films across Australia and also internationally, focusing on politics and ...
(2022)
* Yorna (Donny) Woolagoodja (2021)
*Dr Lou Bennett
Lou Bennett (May 18, 1926, Philadelphia – February 10, 1997, Paris) was an American jazz organist.
Bennett first played bebop on piano, but started playing organ in 1956 after hearing Jimmy Smith. Bennett toured the U.S. with an organ trio bet ...
AM (2021)
* Alison Milyika Carroll (2020)
* Djon Mundine OAM (2020)
2010s
*Jack Charles
Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous t ...
(2019)[
* Mavis Ngallametta (2018)
*]John Mawurndjul
Balang Nakurulk (1952–2024) was a highly regarded Australian contemporary Indigenous Australian art, contemporary Indigenous artist. He uses traditional motifs in innovative ways to express spiritual and cultural values. He is especially know ...
AM (2018)
* Lynette Narkle (2017)
* Ken Thaiday Snr (2017)Yvonne Koolmatrie
Yvonne Koolmatrie (born 1944) is an Australian artist and weaver of the Ngarrindjeri people, working in South Australia.
Early life
Koolmatrie was born in Wudinna, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Her father was a Kokatha man, Joseph Roberts ...
(2016)
* Dr Gary Foley
Gary Edward Foley (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian activist of the Gumbaynggirr people, academic, writer and actor. He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Ab ...
(2015)
* Hector Burton (2014)
*David Gulpilil
David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil (1 July 1953 – 29 November 2021) was an Australian actor and dancer. He was known for his roles in the films Walkabout (film), ''Walkabout'' (1971), Storm Boy (1976 film), ''Storm Boy'' (1976), ''The Last Wave'' (1 ...
AM (2013)
* Warren H. Williams (2012)
*Archie Roach
Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...
(2011)
2000s
* Gawirrin Gumana AO (2009)
*Doris Pilkington Garimara
Doris Pilkington Garimara (born Nugi Garimara; c. 1 July 1937 – 10 April 2014), also known as Doris Pilkington, was an Aboriginal Australian author.
Garimara wrote '' Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (1996), a story about the stolen generati ...
AM (2008)
* (2007)
*Tom E. Lewis
Tom E. Lewis (25 August 1958 – 10 May 2018), also known by his traditional name Balang Lewis, and sometimes credited as Tommy Lewis was an Aboriginal Australian actor, musician, and artistic director. His first major role was the title role in ...
(2006)
*Seaman Dan
Henry Gibson Dan (25 August 1929 – 30 December 2020), known as Seaman Dan, was a Torres Strait Islander singer-songwriter with a national and international reputation. His first recording, an album called ''Follow the Sun'', was released in 2 ...
(2005)
* Johnny Bulunbulun (2004)
*Jimmy Little
James Oswald Little, AO (1 March 19372 April 2012) was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales.
Little started his professi ...
(2003)
* Dorothy Peters AM (2002)
*Banduk Marika
Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika (13 October 1954 – 12 July 2021), known after her death as Dr B Marika, was an artist, printmaker and environmental activist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, who was dedicated to the developme ...
AO (2001)
*Mervyn Bishop
Mervyn Bishop (born July 1945) is an Australian news and documentary photographer. Joining ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' as a cadet in 1962, he was the first Aboriginal Australian to work on a metropolitan daily newspaper and one of the first to ...
(2000)
1990s
*Justine Saunders
Justine Florence Saunders (20 February 1953 – 15 April 2007) was an Australian stage, television and film actress. She was a member of the Woppaburra, an Australian Aboriginal people, from the Kanomie clan of Great Keppel Island in Queenslan ...
OAM (1999)
*Bob Maza
Robert Lewis Maza (25 November 1939 – 14 May 2000), known as Bob Maza, was an Aboriginal Australian actor, playwright and activist.
Early life and education
Robert Lewis Maza was born on Palm Island in North Queensland on 25 November 1939, ...
AM (1998)
*Jimmy Chi
James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''Bran Nue Dae'', which was adapted for film in 2009.
Early life and education
James Ronald Chi was born in B ...
(1997)
*Maureen Watson
Maureen Watson, also known as "Aunty Maureen" (9 November 1931 – 4 January 2009), was an Aboriginal Australian activist actor, vocalist, writer, musician, and storyteller.
Early life and education
Maureen Watson was born on 9 November 1931, ...
(1996)
*The Mills Sisters
__NOTOC__
The Mills Sisters, formerly known as the Singing Grandmas, were a group of three sisters from Torres Strait Islands, Rita Mills and twins Cessa and Ina.
Early life
Ina and Cessa, who were twins, were born in 1927, and Rita in 1934, ...
(1995)
*Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri
Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri (c. 1926 – August 16, 1998), was one of the most important painters to emerge from the Western Desert.
From the Pintupi language group, Mick Namarari was one of the foundation artists of the movement that emerged i ...
(1994)
*Eva Johnson
Eva Knowles Johnson (born 1946) is an Aboriginal Australian poet, actor, director, and playwright. She is known for directing the first Aboriginal Women's Arts Festival in Adelaide in 1985, for which she wrote the play ''Tjindarella''.
Early l ...
(1993)
References
Awards established in 1993
Arts awards in Australia
{{art-award-stub