Indigenous Insight

On our first day we were treated to a dinner show at Red Centre Dreaming where we learnt about Aboriginal weaponry, dances, instruments such as clapping sticks and the didgeridoo, the hundreds of tribal dialects, indigenous art and sacred ceremonies.

On the second day we visited the Mbantua Art Gallery and Cultural Museum which displays Aboriginal artefacts. General manager Tim Jennings has spent years gathering them from all over the world.

He has also cultivated indigenous artists such as those from the Utopia region and their colourful canvases are on display. You will see, too, works by world-famous artists such as Albert Namatjira, Barbara Weir and talented contemporary artist Janelle Stockman. Mbantua houses the most expensive Aboriginal painting ever sold, the million-dollar Earth’s Creation by Emily Kame Kngwarreye,

We also visited the Papunya Tula Artists gallery in Todd Mall which is owned and directed by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert, particularly of the Pintupi and Luritja language groups. The gallery has 120 artists.