Barbara McGrady

Barbara McGrady (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian photographer and photojournalist based in Sydney, New South Wales.

She is the first Indigenous Australian photojournalist.

Barbara McGrady was born in 1950 in Mungindi, New South Wales.

She is a Gomeroi (Gamilaraay) and Murri woman, from the north-west of NSW and southern Queensland.

Her aunts were removed from the family and sent to Cootamundra Girls' Home, while the men were sent to work as indentured labourers.

McGrady started taking photos of her family and surroundings as a teenager with a camera her mother bought her.

Her fascination with photo journalism was sparked by black and white photographs of black sportsmen and sportswomen in magazines like Time and Life, National Geographic, Esquire and Reader's Digest.

She trained as a sociologist, and is an athlete and sports lover.

McGrady has been photographing political and social events of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and families of the Redfern, Surry Hills, and Waterloo communities for 30 years from her perspective as a Gomeroi woman.

She is the first Indigenous photojournalist in Australia.

She specialises in recording Indigenous Australian sporting figures and events.

Among the famous people McGrady has photographed are prominent activist for Australia's First Nations People, Gary Foley, a human rights activist and historian at Victoria University, Melbourne, who is also a personal friend.

According to Foley, McGrady is a "true historian" because she documents Aboriginal experience.

Her works include iconic images of Adam Goodes with Lewis Jetta and Lance (Buddy) Franklin and the Indigenous round in AFL football; world champion Aboriginal boxer Anthony "Choc" Mundine; the Koori Knockout Carnival (one of the biggest Indigenous gatherings in Australia); and the Sista Girls of the Sydney Mardi Gras.

She has also photographed Prince Harry, as well as concerts by British singer Ed Sheeran, and American rappers Nelly and Snoop Dogg.

McGrady features in "Through the Lens with Barbara McGrady", an episode in the 2013 documentary television series Desperate Measures.

It is available on SBS on Demand.

Despite the esteem in which McGrady is held as a photojournalist, she still faces everyday racism in Australia.

She is a close friend of fellow photojournalist Lisa Hogben.

She suffers from COPD, which hinders her physical movement.

Some of McGrady's works are held in the Australian Museum in Sydney.

In 2020, her significant new audiovisual multi-channel installation, Ngiyaningy Maran Yaliwaunga Ngaara-li (Our Ancestors Are Always Watching), produced in collaboration with photographer and filmmaker John Janson-Moore, was presented at Campbelltown Arts Centre.

McGrady works as a freelancer, and is an active member of the Glebe community.

She donates much time pro bono for community assignments.

McGrady's work has been published in outlets such as NAIDOC, NITV, National Indigenous Times, Reconciliation Australia, Aboriginal Legal Service, and Gadigal Information Service.