WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains an image and the name of a deceased person.
Australian performer Ningali Lawford-Wolf has died while on tour in Scotland.
The 52-year-old Wangkatjungka woman was in Edinburgh with the Sydney Theatre Company for a stage adaption of Kate Grenville's award-winning book The Secret River. The actor is best known for starring in films such as Rabbit-Proof Fence and Bran Nue Dae.
A joint statement on behalf of Lawford-Wolf’s family and the Sydney Theatre Company said the actor had died in the UK on Sunday.
"Ningali was an incredibly talented performer as well as a wonderfully caring and thoughtful person," the statement reads.
Ningali Lawford-Wolf performing The Secret River at the Edinburgh International Festival.
"We've lost one of Australian theatre's greatest treasures. Ningali's family, as well as the cast and crew of The Secret River, are understandably very distressed by this news. All of us at STC offer our condolences to Ningali's family and friends and ask that the media respect their privacy at this time."
A British woman who attended The Secret River’s final Edinburgh show on Sunday (local time) said the director made an announcement at the beginning of the show that one of the key cast members was gravely ill and that the cast and crew, despite their upset and distress, had taken the decision to go ahead with the performance in her honour.
The audience member, who did not wish to be named, added that the performance was “truly exceptional” and that the cast and crew received a standing ovation at the end of the show.
Lawford-Wolf was born at Christmas Creek Station in the far-north Kimberley region of Western Australia. She trained at the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre before kicking off her professional dance career with Sydney's Bangarra Dance Theatre.
In the mid-1990s Lawford-Wolf toured her one-woman show Ningali in Australia and overseas, snapping up a Green Room Award along the way.
Lawford-Wolf was closely involved in the development of STC's The Secret River. She narrated the show's national tour in 2016, a string of Adelaide performances in 2018 and this year's performances at the Edinburgh Festival. Her death occurred towards the end of the show's Edinburgh run, resulting in the cancellation of some shows.
Lawford-Wolf's recent television credits include NITV's Logie award-winning children's series Little J & Big Cuz and the ABC's outback thriller Mystery Road. The 52-year-old also worked as an Indigenous education officer at a secondary school in Western Australia.
Broome Senior High School principal Mathew Burt said in a statement the school community was "shocked by this devastating news".
"Ningali was a highly valued and respected member of the Broome Senior High School community," he said.
"[She] was a fantastic role model for all students and I know she made a huge difference to so many lives. At this stage we would like to encourage everyone to respect the family as they deal with the sad news in a culturally appropriate way."
Lawford-Wolf is survived by her five children and two grandchildren.
The family of Ningali Lawford-Wolf has given the media permission to use her name and image.