Tommy Carroll / King River Country (19293)

Tommy Carroll was born in May 1956 at Doon Doon Station in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. He is the son of Octor Carroll, a stockman, and Evelyn Carroll, and spent much of his early life working on cattle stations throughout the East Kimberley including Doon Doon, Bow River and Lissadell Stations. Tommy now lives at Warmun Community with his wife, fellow Gija artist Katie Cox.

Tommy’s deep knowledge of Country, gained through years spent travelling and working across the Kimberley landscape, forms the foundation of his art practice. His paintings are powerful, balanced and unmistakably his own, characterised by bold compositions, rich natural ochres and strong contrasts between dark charcoal tones, vibrant reds and glowing yellows. Through his work, Tommy captures both the physical presence of the land and the enduring spirit of Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) stories connected to his Country around Doon Doon Station.

Tommy began painting in 1999 after being encouraged by Katie and quickly developed a highly individual style that stood apart from other Warmun artists. Painting allows Tommy to reconnect with memories of travelling through Country as a young boy and later as a stockman, revisiting important cultural sites and ancestral stories passed down through generations.

Since commencing his artistic career, Tommy Carroll has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally. His works have been acquired by major public and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House Collection and Artbank. His paintings are also held in numerous private collections across Australia, Europe and the United States, and he continues to be recognised as one of the leading contemporary ochre painters from the East Kimberley.

Selected Collections

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• Parliament House Collection, Canberra
• Artbank, Sydney
• Broadmeadows Health Service Collection, Victoria

Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions

• 2026 Jiwibany Marjad Wardam Purru (The Morning Star is the Leader for All the Stars), Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT
• 2022 The Summer Collectors Show, Everywhen Artspace, Flinders, VIC
• 2022 Travelling Through Country; 20 Leading Aboriginal Artists, JGM Gallery, London, UK
• 2020 Ngarranggarni – JGM Gallery, London
• 2020 The Ochre Story – Japingka Aboriginal Art, Fremantle, WA
• 2019 Gija Artists | Celebrating Warmun At 21, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
• 2019 “Manparra” Big Boss Man – Male Masters Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome
• 2018 Environs Kimberley Art Auction – Gallows Gallery, WA
• 2018 Moon Dreaming & Other Stories – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2018 Warmun At Twenty, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
• 2017 Spiritual essence of the Earth with Warmun artists – Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
• 2014 Warmun Aboriginal Art – Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, SA
• 2012 Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi
• 2012 Earth: Ochre Painting from Warmun – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2011 Warmun 2011, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC
• 2010 Warmun – Our Earth Our Story, Art Images Gallery, Norwood, SA
• 2010 Kimberley Aboriginal Artists, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, NT
• 2009 Ochre: A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, and Broome, WA
• 2009 Warmun Ochre’s: Rich Earth, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
• 2009 Ochre: A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome
• 2009 Warnarran Gelengen: Old Times New Times, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
• 2007 Red Centre, Red Dot: Celebrating Indigenous Australia, Australian High Commission, Singapore
• 2007 Mungowum Ngarraknaari Yaarun (Strong Stories, Strong Culture), Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
• 2007 Greetings From Turkey Creek, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
• 2007 From the ground up: Ochre work from the Kimberley, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
• 2006 Warmun Artists in New York, Ralph Pucci Gallery, Soho, New York
• 2006 Gentlemen of Warmun, Seva Frangos Art, Perth
• 2006 East Kimberley Artworks, Japingka Gallery , Perth
• 2006 Warmun Art Centre Presents, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
• 2005 Grant Pirrie in association with Raft Artspace, Waterhole Show 11, Sydney, NSW
• 2005 Waterhole Country, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
• 2005 New Work from Warmun, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
• 2004 Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
• 2004 Alcaston Gallery, The Next Generation, Balgo and Warmun, Melbourne, VIC
• 2003 Tommy Carroll, Solo Exhibition, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• 2003 Recent Works by Warmun Artists, Framed Gallery, Darwin
• 2002 Tommy Carroll, Solo Exhibition, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• 2002 Colleen Carter, Tommy Carroll and Katie Cox, Span Gallery, Flinders Lane, Melbourne
• 2002 Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
• 2000 Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra, ACT

This is around Speewah Valley, fair way to the south of Kununurra. The hills there are part of the Saw Ranges, and this has always been cattle country. The old Bedford Stock Route comes right down this way, over the Dunham River and then into the Valley here. Lots of good water here from living waters (underground springs), and good flat blacksoil country that the King River floods every year. All that rain coming down from the mountains making the blacksoil plains soft and hard to travel on. We did it with horses. Motor cars still no good in this place after the rains because they just sink into the mud. I’ve painted it in hot time, before the rains, just a little bit of grass and red earth all around.