Dennis Kickett, also known as Noongali, was born in York, a Western Australian town 100km inland from Perth, in 1953. Noongali was the name of one of Kickett’s ancestors who worked as a guide for Sir John Forrest, who lead the first European expeditions into inland Western Australia in in the 1860s and 1870s and later became the first Premier of the state. A descendant of the Balardong clan, Kickett spent his childhood on York Reserve amongst his extended family, and moved into the town when he was fifteen years old. In the following years he worked as a farm labourer on a Pilbara sheep property, a shearer and a tracklayer on railway projects in Western Australia and South Australia. He also spent a number of years in Perth, studying and working in the area of Indigenous health.
Kickett began his art practice in 1987 when he and his partner at the time began facilitating art activities while running a community youth program in Narrogin, Western Australia. He went on to exhibit his paintings at the Narrogin Recreation Centre and the Strelfall Art Gallery in Mandurah. His work is in the collection of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University of Technology.
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- Writers:
- Fisher, Laura
- Date written:
- 2011
- Last updated:
- 2011
