A book detailing the tragic shooting of Kumanjayi Walker and the subsequent trial of Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe has been recognized as one of the six winners of this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (PMLA).
It should be noted that this article mentions the name of a deceased Indigenous person, which may affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers.
Journalist Kate Wild has been awarded the non-fiction prize of $80,000 for her work titled The Red House. The book delves into the events of November 2019, when police shot and killed Mr. Walker in Yuendumu, a remote Northern Territory community situated 300 kilometers northwest of Alice Springs.
The 19-year-old Warlpiri man was sought by law enforcement after allegedly threatening two officers with an axe just three days prior to the incident. During an attempt to arrest him at his grandmother’s residence, Mr. Walker stabbed then-constable Rolfe in the shoulder using medical scissors. In response, Mr. Rolfe discharged his firearm three times, resulting in Mr. Walker’s death in custody one hour later.
This incident ignited protests demanding “Justice for Walker,” with over 1,000 participants marching in Alice Springs, occurring six months before George Floyd’s murder in the United States sparked a global wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
In March 2022, Mr. Rolfe was acquitted of Mr. Walker’s murder following a six-week trial held in Darwin. Three years later, in July 2025, the Northern Territory coroner announced the findings of an inquest into the shooting, concluding that Mr. Rolfe exhibited “racist” attitudes, which could not be ruled out as a potential factor contributing to Kumanjayi’s death. Consequently, he was dismissed from the NT Police Force.
The judges of the PMLA praised The Red House, describing it as “deeply compassionate … rigorous and urgently necessary to an ongoing national conversation.” They noted that Wild’s intense and candid investigation addresses issues of national disparity, the lasting impacts of colonialism, and the troubling recurrence of state violence and dehumanization that led to the confrontation depicted in her book.
In an interview with ABC Arts, Wild expressed her surprise and pride at receiving the award, stating, “It’s really affirming. It’s really nice to know people care about this.” Other notable winners at the PMLA included Rohan Howitt’s The Southern Frontier, which explores Australia’s connection to Antarctica, and a fiction award presented to Leonie Norrington for her collaboration with Yolŋu Elders on a book regarding Indonesian fisher-traders visiting Arnhem Land.
Throughout The Red House, Wild grapples with the complexities of narrating Mr. Walker’s death in a thoughtful manner. She recounts a conversation with a former defense force chaplain, who questions her motivation for documenting the shooting. Wild responds by indicating that Australia’s collective perception of history is evolving, along with the country itself, and that reactions to Kumanjayi’s death and Mr. Rolfe’s trial reflect this change.
The chaplain cautions her about the challenges of the path she has chosen, to which Wild acknowledges the risk, saying, “One way or another I expect to be cancelled.” However, she has not faced such backlash thus far. “It’s dangerous to write about very conflicted subjects and spaces, particularly in the world we live in at the moment,” she notes.
Wild observed that within hours of Mr. Walker’s death, individuals were publicly declaring their stances, often taking sharply opposing viewpoints. This predictability frustrated her, and she expressed her impatience with such rigid left-right divides, particularly on contentious issues.
Engaging in extensive discussions with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous friends about whether she, as a white, middle-class woman, should undertake the project, Wild ultimately decided to proceed, feeling that framing it solely as an Aboriginal story would be misleading. “It was a white police officer who shot [Mr. Walker], and so the story is as much a white Australia story as it is a Black Australia story,” she asserted.
Wild utilized her six years of experience reporting on Indigenous affairs in Darwin to bring depth and connection to her narrative, coupled with a profound admiration for the Northern Territory and its people. She emphasized that the story should not be oversimplified to depict a conflict between “racist white rednecks and victim Aboriginal people,” as this does not reflect reality.
With a focus on understanding the broader implications of the altercation between Mr. Walker and Mr. Rolfe, Wild sought to explore the current state of race relations and reconciliation in Australia. As her research progressed, she gained a more comprehensive perspective on historical patterns of violence and tension.
Former NT politician Scott McConnell highlighted parallels between the racial conflicts in the Northern Territory in 2019 and those from the 1980s, referencing three violent incidents involving Indigenous individuals and law enforcement. These historical connections prompted Wild to consider the Indigenous concept of “Everywhen,” which perceives time as a simultaneous experience of past, present, and future.
Wild employed the Everywhen concept as a structural framework in The Red House, enabling her to move beyond a strictly chronological narrative and address the recurring themes of violence in Indigenous-police interactions.
