This absolute legend worked to bring criminals to justice but also to help find and/or recover those lost in the bush.
Sidenote - the movie One Night The Moon 2001 is based on him not being allowed to set foot onto a white fella's farm to help look for a missing child.
Tracker Riley spent long, arduous hours combing the bush for evidence when tracking criminals, and in the case of Mad Mossy (Narromine Murders 1939) he spent more than 12 months tracking, tracing and gathering evidence as to the multiple murders.
Reaching the rank of Sergeant in NSW police in 1941 was a first for any Indigenous person, in 1943 he was awarded the King's Police and Fire Services Medal for Distinguished Conduct.
Tracker Riley and his family lived at the Talbragar Reserve at Dubbo.
The movie Blacktracker 1996 is based on Tracker Alec Riley's life.
Further reading -
