Reginald Lindsay Black was born in 1886 and spent much of his childhood in Melbourne. After becoming the manager of Canally Station, he became a farmer on the irrigation settlement in Leeton, New South Wales. Soon after, Black became a stock and station agent in this area which was eventually carried on by his youngest son, Langdon.

Lindsay Black was very involved with the local area of Leeton. This included becoming president of the local rugby and bowling clubs. He was also extremely interested in the natural Australian environment and was a member of numerous associations including; the Royal Geographical Society of Australia, the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria and held the position of Chairman of the Riverina section of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union as well as being a member of the Anthropological Society of New South Wales.

He significantly contributed to the Anthropological understanding of Australian Aboriginal culture. He documented various Aboriginal customs in Darling River and Central New South Wales, areas he was very familiar with. Through photography taken by his eldest son Russell and associations with the South Australian Museum and the National Museum of Victoria, Black helped capture practices such as the carved burial trees of New South Wales, various forms of art work and Aboriginal stone arranging practices. Black held a deep appreciation for Aboriginal culture and was instrumental in working with the local Aboriginal community to have a better understanding to help preserve and learn from this rich, cultural knowledge. He demonstrated this in his 1941 book Burial Trees; 'The contempt in which the Australian Aboriginal is held by some is not justified. The more their customs are studied, the more one admires their cleverness'.

At his own expense, Lindsay Black published approximately five books on the subject of such Aboriginal customs, knowledge and practices. As a non-professional or amateur member of various anthropological societies, his efforts of thoroughly cataloguing local histories and practices, according to Principal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, F.D.McCarthy, forms a valuable and splendid contribution to Australian archaeology.

Lindsay married Evelyn Mary Langdon. They had two sons, Russell and Langdon. Langdon would go on to continue his father's work at the stocking stations and serve in World War II. For ten years, his eldest son Russell Black helped his father document the archaeology of Australian Aborignials by taking the photographs of burial trees and other customs. During 1944, while serving as a Wireless Air Gunner and Pilot Officer in World War II, Russell Black went missing, having died when his plane crashed in the Arafura Sea, Northern Territory.

In July 1959, following a severe heart attack, Reginald Lindsay Black died at this home in Leeton, aged 73.