about this collection

The aboriginal australia collection is largely composed of photographs of the Tiwi people who live on Bathurst and Melville Islands north of Darwin. Most of these images were photographed on three trips between 1987-90. Further visits in 1994 and 2004 have increased the collection to over 3000 images.

In 1988 an exhibition "Black Australians" was held at Parliament House Canberra, the first exhibition at Australia's new Parliament House; the exhibition later travelled to Sydney, Darwin and Alice Springs. In 1990 Collins/Angus & Robertson published "Tiwi - The Life and Art of Australia's Tiwi People"; Edition Habit Press republished it in 1996. I am currently working on another book on the Tiwi.

I own model releases and copyright for all images; a number have been used for educational publications and various reports, most notably as the cover picture for "Bringing them home", the report on the Stolen Generation.

Because of the size of this collection, I have divided it into generic sections. To learn more about purchasing photographs from this collection contact me on:

freecall 1800 671 007
tel 02 4476 1171
or email me at
inquiries@heidesmith.com

Note for Aboriginal Australian viewers: this collection may display images of Aboriginal people now deceased.