Richard Walley

In 2013 Walley designed a football jumper for the Fremantle Football Club to wear during the Australian Football League's Indigenous Round. In 2016 he was appointed as the club's honorary number 1 ticketholder.

In 2003, he released Two Tribes, a collaboration with a group of artists, an eclectic selection of songs combining traditional Indigenous music with contemporary styles such as rap and hip hop.

In 2001 he performed in Westminster Abbey for dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth II, as part Australia's Centenary of Federation celebrations. In the same year, he worked with Carlos Santana with music for his Supernatural Evening with Santana and contributed to the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

From 2000 he served as Chair of the Australia Council's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board, a position he had held previously between 1992 and 1996. In 2001, Murdoch University in Western Australia recognised his contribution to Nyungar culture and the wider community with an honorary Doctorate of Letters.

Walley is also a visual artist, with his works in much demand by collectors in Australia and overseas. In 1993 Walley was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the performing arts and Nyungar culture.

After acting in theatre and TV, Walley went on to further develop his theatre skills, holding the role of either director or assistant director in 10 productions in theatre and TV from 1982 to 1993. Several of these productions took place in the United States and the UK. During this period Walley also wrote several screenplays.

Walley has been involved as director, designer, writer, musician, dancer and actor with a range of stage and television productions including The Dreamers (1982), A Fortunate Life (1984), Bullies House (1985), Coordah (1985), Australian Mosaic (1988), Jackaroo (1990), Balaan Balaan Gwdtha (1992) and Close to the Bone (1993).

In 1978, he founded the Middar Aboriginal Theatre with three friends, including Ernie Dingo, who he had met playing basketball. Walley had realised early the powerful potential of theatre to raise issues and bring messages to the broader community, black and white.

Walley, born in 1953 in Meekatharra, 750 km north of Perth, Western Australia, spent much of his childhood at Pinjarra, 80 km south of Perth. He began his work in social justice for Indigenous Australians in the Perth region, Nyungar country, at a young age. By 23 he was chairing Western Australia's Aboriginal Advisory Board, while also involved in the formation or operation of the Aboriginal Housing Board, Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Legal Service, Aboriginal Alcoholism Committee, Aboriginal Sports Foundation and the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship.