Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair

We have a day in Darwin today before we join our cruise early tomorrow morning. Because we’ve done plenty of walking in the heat over the past couple of days, and also because we have to return our hire car by mid-afternoon, we decided to do something close to our accommodation. From where we’re staying, it’s a 5-minute drive down to the Darwin Waterfront Precinct, the perfect place to chill out and enjoy the surrounds.

I think the precinct is a relatively recent development. I don’t recall it being here when we last visited Darwin in 2000. It’s a really relaxed place to stroll around. There are some restaurants and bars which look quite inviting, although we didn’t visit any today. There’s also a wave pool, a man made beach and a safe lagoon for swimming free from the menace of crocodiles and stingers. An Aqua Park in the centre of the swimming area is packed full of inflatables for kids to play on. They are all required to wear safety vests. It looked like a lot of fun. The weather here at present is so perfect, who wouldn’t want to make use of these fantastic facilities!

We went for a stroll along the promenade that separates the man-made lagoon from the sea – and keeps the crocodiles out! From there we had views out into the harbour and could also sight our cruise ship, the Coral Discoverer, moored at the Fort Hill wharf where we’ll board it tomorrow. We also saw its tender, named Xplorer, that we’ll be using on a daily basis to get in close to the beaches and coves we’ll visit on our cruise. We stopped to watch a striated heron waiting patiently on the rocks. In a flash, it darted into the water and emerged almost instantly with a small fish in its beak.

The Darwin Convention Centre is located adjacent to the waterfront lagoon, and it was our good fortune that the 20th annual Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair just happened to fall over this weekend. It’s one component of the larger Darwin Festival, which is also happening here during Augustl We’d met an indigenous man and his aunties in our hotel when we arrived on Wednesday. He asked us if we were going to the Festival, and recommended that we should call in to the art fair if we wanted to see some quality work. We met them in the hotel again yesterday and said hello. Today we discovered that the man’s name is Kieran, and he is an artist of some note from the Merrepen Arts Centre in Daly River, Northern Territory. There was a feature display of Merrepen Arts’ work in one of the galleries, and we found Kieran and his aunties sitting at their stall selling their works. Kieran and his aunties not only paint works you can hang on your wall. They also print fabrics and make their designs into clothing and bags. You can see a photo here of Marg with Kieran and his aunties. Marg bought one of Kieran’s printed dresses that she’s very happy with. We also were impressed with the display of art works from Injalak Arts Centre, that we visited a couple of days ago in Arnhem Land. We have three of their paintings at home and I’m very fond of them.

It’s hard to describe the scope of the art fair. It was massive. I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many remote communities around Australia now have art-related cooperatives that enable indigenous artists to make a living and get a fair price for their work. The work varied in style, texture, colour, design and themes from one remote community art centre’s display to the next, so today’s visit was akin to visiting a large art museum and passing through a number of different galleries. In the centre of the exhibition place, we stopped for a while to watch a dance troup from the Torres Strait. Their beautiful singing could be heard throughout the convention centre. We were there for several hours, captivated by all the beautiful art works. It was a great way to spend our last day in Darwin before our cruise begins.