Art in a Timeless Land
If you want to connect with the world’s oldest continuous living culture, there is nowhere better than the Northern Territory. We’ve curated an art trail with some of the region’s best Indigenous cultural experiences.
WORDS Patricia Maunder
PHOTOGRAPHY Saskia Wilson 2003, Tourism NT/Shaana Mcnaught , Tourism NT/Toursim WA, Tourism NT/@75Vibes
From desert to coast, from cities to the middle of nowhere, Aboriginal culture is all around, though perhaps the easiest way to start your journey is through art. Watch Aboriginal artists creating, and see rock art that’s tens of thousands of years old. Buy art representing knowledge handed down along countless generations, or be inspired to create your own. The possibilities are almost endless, but this trail of authentic experiences is sure to open your eyes, mind and heart.
Top Art in the Top End
Whether going your own way around the Territory or joining an experience – such as The Ghan – you’re bound to be in Darwin at some point. Known as Garramilla in the local Larrakia language, it’s home to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, with a permanent collection of Indigenous art. MAGNT, as locals call it, also hosts the annual National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. The related exhibition is a showcase of new work by established and emerging Indigenous artists in the Territory and beyond. Offering everything from traditional bark paintings to multimedia works, this year, the exhibition returns from 22 June 2024 until January 2025.
Street cred
While in Darwin, be sure to look up and around because this tropical city is turning into a colourful, thought-provoking al-fresco art gallery. In 2017, the inaugural Darwin Street Art Festival kicked off and since that time, an increasing number of large-scale murals and artistic gems have appeared, particularly in Austin, West and Shadforth lanes. Some are painted by Indigenous artists, such as Jason Lee, Wendy Yunupingu and Tylah Saunders, and represent Aboriginal people and culture. More will appear during the Darwin Street Art Festival this year, held from 18 May-8 June 2024. Whenever you’re in town, though, the festival app can point you in the right direction – with an augmented reality flourish.
Kakadu rock stars
East of Darwin, Kakadu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of timeless Indigenous culture. This includes one of the world’s greatest concentrations of rock-art sites, painted over at least 20,000 years by Bininj and Mungguy people. The most celebrated sites are Ubirr and Burrungkuy (Nourlangie), where you can see paintings in the region’s traditional X-ray style. There are representations of animals, including the extinct Tasmanian Tiger; Creation spirits such as Namarrgon, the Lightning Man; and examples of ‘contact art’. Time your visit according to the free ranger-led walk and talk at these sites, or enjoy a private tour as part of Outback Spirit’s new eight-day Arnhem Land and Kakadu tour.t direction – with an augmented reality flourish.
Island escape
Want to spend a day on a secluded tropical island immersing yourself in the unique local culture? Part of the Tiwi Islands, Bathurst Island is an easy regular flight or ferry ride from Darwin, and home to Tiwi Design, one of Australia’s oldest and most artistically diverse Aboriginal art centres. The locally created art sold here includes screen-printed fabrics, pottery, wood carvings and ochre paintings on bark and canvas. Consider the Tiwi by Design day tour from Darwin. It includes a Welcome to Country with totem dances, an introduction to the Tiwi Creation story and other island cultures, and a screen-printing workshop at the centre. The main challenge is choosing which wonderful Tiwi design to put on your souvenir T-shirt, tea towel or textile.
Ancient art in Arnhem Land
A wild region ranging from dramatic coastline to savannah woodland to stone country, Arnhem Land is the largest but least well-known part of the Top End. If you want to see incredible rock art here, don’t miss Mount Borradaile, a sacred site for the local Amurdak people who know it as Awunbarna. This area of caves and catacombs is rich with art of extraordinary quantity and quality, including in terms of preservation. Diverse in style and subject, it features images of Creation spirit the Rainbow Serpent, and ‘contact art’ such as sailing ships. Visiting this ancient art gallery is the highlight of Outback Spirit’s Arnhem Land and Kakadu tour or Arnhem Land Wilderness Adventure.
Art old and new
Another top stop in Arnhem Land is Beswick (Wugularr) in Jawoyn country. This Aboriginal community nurtures its living culture through the Djilpin Arts enterprise. Its Ghunmarn Culture Centre is both a museum of culturally significant paintings, etchings, sculpture and fibre craft, and a gallery where you can browse and buy local artists’ work. Djilpin Arts also offers more in-depth experiences for visitors. The women’s weaving workshops, for example, reveal techniques long used to harvest, process, dye and weave pandanus leaves.
Katherine's cruise back in time
Katherine is also part of the traditional lands of the Jawoyn people, though not in Arnhem Land. This town’s claim to fame is Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, which is a series of 13 interconnected gorges carved by nature. The Katherine River still flows through it, so a cruise is the easiest way to experience this dramatic landscape of towering sandstone cliffs. Your Aboriginal guide provides insights about the environment and Jawoyn culture, including rock art a short walk from the boat. Seeing these incredible images takes you far back in time, even to the last Ice Age. Cruising this rock-art site is one of Off Train Experiences offered on The Ghan.
Meet the artist in Alice
Head south deeper into the Red Centre and get your bearings in Alice Springs. Known as Mparntwe to the local Arrernte people, this desert city has numerous galleries and Aboriginal art centres, where you can see and purchase diverse work by artists from across the region. Yubu Napa, for example, offers everything from painted ceramics to didgeridoos to beanies made for Alice’s annual Beanie Festival. Most creations are by Central Australian Aboriginal artists – including those you can observe at work in the studio at Yubu Napa, which is part of The Ghan’s Off Train exploration of the town.
Landscape legacy
Iltja Ntjarra is another top option for seeing artists at work in Alice Springs. Meaning ‘many hands’, this Aboriginal-owned art centre is focused on the watercolour landscape style of Albert Namatjira. He began painting in the 1930s and is still among the best-known Aboriginal artists today, renowned for his insights about the colours of Central Desert landscapes. At Iltja Ntjarra, Namatjira’s descendants and relatives carry on his beautiful, groundbreaking painting style.
Dots in the desert
The Red Centre’s iconic heart is that mighty red rock called Uluru, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been a sacred place for the Anangu people since time immemorial. Their culture is nurtured at Aboriginal-owned Walkatjara Art Uluru, which provides a space for Anangu artists to create and sell their work. Most are paintings in the internationally admired dot style of the Central Desert region and depict various aspects of Tjukurpa, or Creation Time. There is an abundance of souvenirs to choose from around Uluru, but original artwork purchased here is something to treasure forever.
Uluru encounters
Want an even deeper Uluru connection? Aboriginal-owned Maruku Arts not only sells paintings and traditional carvings by local artists, but also offers regular cultural experiences. During the 90-minute dot-painting workshop, an Anangu artist shares some of their culture, including ancient symbols often seen in this region’s distinctive paintings. The hour-long cultural walk takes you to a cave at Uluru itself, where art depicting Creation Time is revealed. Both experiences are presented in the local Pitjantjatjara language and translated into English, so you can hear as well as see timeless local culture.
TOUR
Immerse yourself in the world’s oldest surviving culture while exploring some of the Northern Territory’s most extraordinary and remote locations as part of Outback Spirit’s new eight-day Arnhem Land and Kakadu tour. This adventure follows an exclusive touring route, and includes tours of the Maningrida Arts and Cultural Centre and the Djómi Museum, rock art site visits at Ubirr and Nourlangie, and a scenic flight over Kakadu.