Michael Riley took this photograph of Charles Perkins AO, Arrernte and Kalkadoon Indigenous rights campaigner and bureaucrat, and his son Adam in 1990. Riley observed that 'Adam mirrors his father … Adam has this determined look. Charles has a paternal look.' As a youth in Adelaide Charles was a sought-after soccer player, playing professionally in England. Widely credited as the first Indigenous person to attain a bachelor's degree from an Australian university, in 1965 he was a prominent organiser of and participant in the anti-discrimination 'freedom rides' through country NSW. Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s he was involved in many organisations promoting Aboriginal rights, welfare and advancement. He began his Commonwealth public service career in 1969 and was Secretary at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 1984 to 1988.
Adam graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Commerce and worked in stockbroking before becoming a private investor. He is chair of the Charlie Perkins Scholarship Trust, which supports talented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to undertake postgraduate study at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
Purchased 2013
© Michael Riley/Copyright Agency, 2024
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Linda Burney, Brenda Croft and Darrell Sibosado share memories of Michael Riley and his photographic practice.
Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.
