On November 9th, 2019, I was visiting the remote indigenous community of Yuendumu (300 km’s North West of Alice Springs) for my friend’s funeral.
After a long and emotional day, the sunset burial was interrupted by word of a shooting back at the town, two kilometres away.
Anxious family member rushed back to the community the news of teenager being shot three times by the police.
Members of the community and family desperate for news sat peacefully outside the Yuendumu Police Station. The police fearing a riot, locked themselves in the station until support from the army were flown in at midnight. It wasn’t until the next morning that the community were told Kumanjayi Walker had sadly passed away at the police station the night before;
Northern Territory Police office Constable Zachary Rolfe was charged with murder four days later.
My photos from the night, the days following and the recent trial of Constable Rolfe in Darwin were published in the The Monthly alongside a a long-form essay by my high school friend and longterm collaborator, investigative journalist and author Anna Krien.
The article can be read in full here.