28th March. AMAX water drillers return after legal action causes a week's delay. Dickie Skinner (third from the left) asks them to leave Noonkanbah. They do so. One press report stated the Aborigines threatened the driller with spears and boomerangs
(1980)
from the Noonkanbah, Western Australia series (1980)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
15.0 × 23.0 cm (image)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased from Admission Funds, 1986
© Michael Gallagher
Gallery location
Gallery 11
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
Between 1979 and 1980, Michael Gallagher worked as a photographer for the Kimberley Land Council and the Yungngora Community at Noonkanbah in Western Australia. His photographs document the community’s opposition to mining exploration on their land. In 1989 Gallagher co-authored a book with Steven Hawke detailing the conflict, which involved mining company Amax Exploration and intervention by the Western Australian Government under Premier Charles Court. Gallagher began exhibiting his work in 1979 and photographs from his Noonkanbah series were later reproduced in The Critical Distance, a publication edited by Virginia Coventry that examines photography’s role in political and cultural documentation.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Noonkanbah, Western Australia
Accession Number
PH55.5-1986
Department
Australian Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Daryl and Anne Whinney