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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Dwayne John, off-siding a commercial kangaroo shooter, Adnyamathanha Country, Plumbago Station, South Australia, 2017 (printed 2026)

Adam Ferguson

pigment photographic print (sheet: 88cm x 110cm)
Dwayne John, off-siding a commercial kangaroo shooter, Adnyamathanha Country, Plumbago Station, South Australia, 2017 (printed 2026)

‘Dwayne John, from Broken Hill, works as a kangaroo shooter’s offsider. 70 times a night, after a roo jolts and falls in the spotlight, Dwayne hauls the carcass onto the back of a truck. I made this picture of Dwayne in the early hours of a hot morning on Plumbago Station in South Australia. To me, Dwayne holding this kangaroo symbolises the human attempt to tame the land. This work is from my series Big Sky, which aims to challenge and position archetypal tropes of Australian identity within the complex realities of contemporary life in the country’s arid interior.’

Adam Ferguson lives and works on Wurundjeri Country in Naarm/Melbourne. Within his broader practice, Ferguson has photographed international conflicts while also examining the impacts of globalisation and climate change on regional Australia.

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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