Dreamtime Artists (Seasonal)

Retail Price Per Person: $16387 (Based on 4 passengers, fully inclusive)

Day 1

q         Our tour starts in Alice Springs, the heart of the Red Centre. The morning is spent unpacking/relaxing at Voyages Alice Springs Resort. This afternoon we visit the Araluen Centre - contains a rotating selection of their permanent Aboriginal art collection created over the last 30 years. This may assist in giving our clients some early understanding of the scope and meaning of Aboriginal art. 

Day 2

q         Today is spent visiting local galleries in the Alice Springs region and these include the Aboriginal Art & Cultural Centre, Papunya Tula Artist's Co-operative, Gallery Gondwana and  Watiywanu Artists of Amunturrunyu Corp.

Day 3

q         Yuendumu is our first destination today, where it is possible to see the artists painting at the centre. The 20 year old art centre is owned by the Aboriginal people who sell brightly coloured, usually dot-style paintings from the Warlpiri and Anmatjerre people. After lunch, we stop over at Balgo Hills a remote Aboriginal community on the edge of the vast Kimberley region of Western Australia. Here we visit the Warlayirti Artists. Tonight we spend in Halls Creek.

Day 4

q         This morning we head for another Aboriginal community at Turkey Creek. It is then on to Bullo River Station, where we have the chance to relax and enjoy a day and an evening on this famous outback cattle station. Enroute to Bullo River we fly over the famous Bungle Bungles.

Day 5

q         Darwin is our destination today. This afternoon is spent exploring the galleries and museums, enjoying the melting pot of cultures that has formed the personality of modern Darwin. Dinner on the foreshore is not to be missed.

NB: Aboriginal communities may be substituted at the request of the community depending on cultural, family and community issues on our expected date of arrival

Click here to view Dreamtime Artists Map.ppt (191.50 Kb) 

FLIGHT TIMES (Approx):

Day 1

q       No Flying

Day 2

q       No Flying

Day 3

q       Alice Springs to Yuendumu: 1 hour

q       Yuendumu to Balgo Hills: 1 hour 35 minutes

q       Balgo Hills to Halls Creek: 45 minutes

Day 4

q       Halls Creek to Turkey Creek: 30 minutes

q       Turkey Creek to Kununurra: 30 minutes

Day 5

q       Kununurra to Darwin: 1 hour 30 minutes

TOTAL:  5 hours 50 minutes

The Dreamtime Artists itinerary allows our clients to visit some very special places. Below is a summary of the highlights:

Alice Springs

• The Arrernte traditional owners of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) have been here since time immemorial. In the beginning, Altyerrenge, ancestral figures created the landscape and its features, as well as Arrernte Law. Arrernte people continue to live in Mparntwe, observe that law, look after the country and teach children the Arrernte language and the importance of culture.
• According to the traditional owners, the landscape was shaped by caterpillars, wild dogs, travelling boys, 2 sisters, euros and other ancestral figures. It contains many sites of importance to its traditional owners. Anthwerrke (Emily Gap) is a very significant place where the caterpillar beings came together. Other important sites include Akeyulerre (Billy Goat Hill), Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap), Atnelkentyarliweke (Anzac Hill) and Alhekulyele (Mt. Gillen).
• Some of the first Dreaming stories ever recorded were those of the Arrernte (pronounced 'Arunda') people of Central Australia. (“Alice Springs Its History & The People Who Made It” – Peter Donovan 1988.)
• Since the town is the regional hub of Central Australia it attracts Aboriginal people from all over that region and well beyond. Speakers of Warlpiri, Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarre, Luritja, Pintupi, Pitjantjatjara, Yangkunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Pertame, Eastern and Western Arrernte, as well as others from the Region, the NT and interstate either live here or visit regularly to use the town's services. Aboriginal residents live in the suburbs, on special purpose leases (or town camps) or further out at Amoonguna to the South and on the small family outstation communities on Aboriginal Lands in surrounding areas. Besides Standard English and the distinctive dialect of Aboriginal English there are many traditional languages still spoken by the residents of Alice Springs who identify as Indigenous Australians.
• Aboriginal Art & Cultural Centre - has a commercial gallery with a broad array of Aboriginal art, supplemented by some indigenousness historical information. Managed by the local Arrente people who offer cultural performances and dinners ad hoc basis.
• Papunya Tula Artist's Co-operative (probably the most famous Aboriginal art movement). This is their own dedicated commercial space located at the end of Todd Mall.
• Gallery Gondwana - Commercial gallery which has one of the finest selection of Aboriginal art amongst the half dozen or so galleries in the Mall.
• Watiywanu Artists of Amunturrunyu Corp - Privately run Aboriginal art collective located in Mt Liebig and private gallery in Alice Springs which has some rising stars amongst its ranks. Here we can arrange for private client viewings of art.

Yuendumu

• The Warlukurlangu Art Centre is managed by the  Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association
• The name 'Warlukurlangu' derives from an important Jukurrpa (Dreaming) and means 'belonging to fire.'
• The art centre plays an important role within the community by providing a variety of cultural maintenance and educational activities.
• With the ongoing work of a dedicated elected committee, Warlukurlangu is committed to improving opportunities for the self expression and empowerment of Warlpiri people.
• Representing over 160 Warlpiri and Anmatjerre artists, the art centre specialises in the production of a wide range of acrylic paintings, large commissions and traditional ground installations.
• The Warlukurlangu Artists are renowned for their diversity and use of colour while maintaining the cultural integrity of their work.
• In 1983, five artists, including Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Roy Jupurrurla Curtis (other artists are deceased) painted 30 school doors with Dreaming designs, negotiating the content with other Warlpiri men and women who also collectively owned the designs.
• Twenty-seven Dreamings were represented on the Doors, referring to more than two hundred sites in Warlpiri and Anmatjerre territory.
• Warlukurlangu celebrated the 20 year anniversary and the opening of its new Art Centre on the 15th October 2005.

Balgo Hills

• Balgo is located in far north-west Australia, on the edges of the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts.
• The paintings from Balgo Hills represent the nine tribal groups who now live in this remote community. Using bright acrylic paints and canvas, they depict their country, food gathering, initiation stories, and major myths and events of the Dreamtime. The uninhabited use of colour has become a feature of their work and it distinguishes Balgo Hills from other desert communities.
• Luminescence and brilliance of colour is considered to be a sign of health, well-being and beauty, and is believed to have originated with the Ancestral Beings.
• Balgo Hills artists are considered by many to be the most innovative and daring painters working in Central Australia, having carved out international reputations.
• The region's art demonstrates a strong link with the land and traditional art in its own right, with vivid use of colour and strong iconic imagery characterising the work. Established in 1987, the Warlayirti Art Centre has grown significantly since 1999 when it moved into its new building. Warlayirti Artists has some of the best purpose-built facilities in remote Australia. The Warlayirti Art Centre is a dynamic place, functioning as a studio space for the artists as well as a gallery for the display and sale of the fine artworks produced.
• Warlayirti Artists is recognised as a leader in best practice in the Indigenous art industry and since 2002 has completely self-funded the operation of the Art Centre - one of very few Indigenous art centres in Australia to achieve this level of self-sufficiency.
• The success of the Warlayirti Art Centre has been achieved through the continuing commitment of the artists and their incredible ability as contemporary Indigenous artists as well as strategic business development balancing the commercial and non-commercial aspects of the organisation.
• There is a solid core of about 20 well recognised artists in the fine art market. These include Eubena Nampitjin, Lucy Yukenbarri, Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Bai Bai Napangarti, Elizabeth Nyumi, Boxer Milner and Tjumpo Tjapanangka. Their work is exhibited regularly in a wide ranging exhibition program and has been collected by all of the major national galleries and many private collections.

Turkey Creek

• Warmun Art Centre was established in 1998 by leading artists of the Warmun (Turkey Creek) community. The Centre is now wholly owned and managed by the Warmun artists, with 100% of income from sales returned back to the community.
• Warmun is home to internationally renowned ochre painters Hector Jandany, Lena Nyadbi, Patrick Mung Mung, Mabel Juli, Shirley Purdie, Madigan Thomas, Churchill Cann and Betty Carrington. These elders lead the way for a group of more than fifty emerging and younger artists currently painting at the art centre.
• The Warmun Art Centre provides artists with economic independence and the opportunity to share their Gija culture and country with visitors. The centre operates as a studio and sales/exhibition space for artists whose work draws on traditional Ngarrangkarni (Dreaming) stories as well as contemporary events and life experiences. Warmun art is unique in its style. All canvases are painted using traditional ochre and natural pigments: The community was home to leading indigenous artists, Rover Thomas, Queenie McKenzie and Jack Britten who passed on many of the traditional stories and painting techniques.
• A new generation of Warmun artists are now working with the same traditional materials and stories. The paintings that have emerged display a freshness, originality and vibrancy in style.  This exciting new work transcends cultural boundaries and places many Warmun artists at the forefront of contemporary art in Australia.
• Warmun Artists include: Beerbee Mungnari Betty Carrington Gordon Barney Hector Jandany Jack Britten Lena Nyadbi Mabel Juli Madigan Thomas Mick Jawalji Nancy Nodea Nora Nagarra Patrick Mung Mung Phyllis Thomas Shirley Purdie Carol Johnson Charlene Carrington Churchill Cann Clancy Patrick Colleen Carter David Cox Denise Sampi Dennis Drill Evelyn Malgil Georgina Drill Jane Yalunga Katie Cox Lorraine Daylight Bessie Daylight Marcia Purdie  Marietta Bray  Mark Nodea Marika Patrick Marissa Kingsley Marlene Juli Maxine Carroll Michael Jangala Smith Roseanne Patrick Tommy Carroll

Darwin

• Australia's most northern city and the Northern Territory capital, Darwin is, and always has been a city of extremes.
• It's location as the country's furthest outpost combined with the areas hot and dry climate, has presented challenges ever since early European settlement. Twice rebuilt, Darwin has been the victim of Australia's worst wartime disaster as well as it's worst natural disaster, after being completely devastated by Japanese bombers in 1942-43 and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
• Today, the city has no resemblance to the hard-edged and unsophisticated image it seems to conjure in many people's minds. It's is a modern and thriving metropolis, boasting all the facilities you would expect of any capital city including several major cultural and social institutions, abundant accommodation and a host of leisure activities.
• Thanks to its diverse multicultural mix, Darwin is also home to a number of excellent dining precincts, where the variety and quality of ethnic cuisine on offer is mouth-watering.
• Darwin is also home to the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (MAGNT) the NT's art, natural history and culture. It contains the Gallery of Indigenous art - a permanent collection of historical and contemporary art of the region. It also features touring art exhibitions.
  Aboriginal people comprise one third of the population of the Northern Territory. The Gallery of Indigenous Art introduces visitors to many of the different stylistic traditions of Aboriginal art that exist in the Northern Territory and includes both classic and innovative artworks. A cross section of the permanent collections is presented in the Gallery with paintings, works on paper and three dimensional items.
• There is also a good selection of Commercial art galleries including the Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery and the Karen Brown Gallery located in the centre of town.