The Board and staff of NorthSite Contemporary Arts Ltd send our warmest congratulations to the incredible Dr Bronwyn Bancroft AM on receiving the prestigious Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Artistic Excellence from Creative Australia this week!

This deeply deserved honour celebrates Bronwyn’s extraordinary five-decade contribution to Australian contemporary art, Indigenous children’s literature, and her unwavering leadership within the First Nations arts sector. As a brilliant Bundjalung artist, storyteller, and advocate, her impact ripples across our entire creative community.

Her life-long commitment to self-determination and urban First Nations visibility is famously rooted in her legacy as a co-founder of the historic Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in 1987. We are incredibly privileged to currently collaborate with Bronwyn in her capacity as a contributing curatorial lead for our landmark retrospective exhibition, Navigator Spirit Ark: Arone Raymond Meeks. This partnership carries a profound history, as both Bronwyn and the late Arone Raymond Meeks were fellow co-founders of Boomalli, breaking barriers together to make an indelible mark on Australia’s cultural landscape.

For those in Gimuy/Cairns, this spectacular tribute exhibition is currently showing at NorthSite Contemporary Arts and runs until 19 July 2026.

We are so proud to celebrate this momentous milestone with you, Bronwyn! Thank you for continually paving the way and inspiring us all.

Hero Image: Bronwyn Bancroft with Jeffery Samuels at Boomalli Artists Co-operative in Sydney, 2025, Photo by Dr Russell Milledge.

Video credit: Creative Australia