Steve Dodd - Background

Background

Steve Dodd, also known as Steve Mullawalla Dodd, is an Arunta or Arrente Indigenous man from central Australia. It is not clear whether Dodd is from the Northern Territory or South Australia: one source states he was born in Alice Springs, and another states he was born at the Hermannsburg Mission, to the town's south-west. However a third source suggests Oodnadatta, across the border in South Australia, while Dodd himself, in a 2011 interview, stated he was South Australian. The only record of a birth date is in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Nominal Roll of Australian Veterans of the Korean War, which gives 1 June 1928. In 1966 he was reported to be a bachelor; later sources shed no light on his marital status. In 1971 he remarked in an interview that his father and six brothers were living in the Northern Territory.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Indigenous Australian men played significant roles as stockmen in the Australian pastoral industry, and as entertainers participating in competitive demonstrations of stockmen's skills, referred to as rough riding. Dodd worked as a stockman, horse breaker and rodeo rider prior to and during his acting career, including a period working for rider and entertainer Smoky Dawson. He was a member of the Rough Riders Association, and gave exhibition rides at the Calgary Stampede in 1964.

Dodd served in Korea, during a six-year stint in the Australian Army, with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; his service number was 41018. Interviewed in May 2011 he indicated that he "was the first Aboriginal to sign up from South Australia to go to Korea". A photograph of him in uniform in Korea is amongst images on permanent display at the Australian War Memorial. From 1969 to at least 1973 Dodd worked as a guide for Airlines of New South Wales, escorting tours to Uluru and other locations in central Australia. Dodd has stated that he demonstrated boomerang and spear-throwing at Expo 70, and at an Olympic Games (though which year is unknown). He was also a participant in a re-enactment of Captain James Cook's landing in Australia, as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. In 1985, Dodd was living in Manly, New South Wales, having spent fifteen years in Sydney's northern suburbs. Dodd now lives in New South Wales.