Day 16: Adelaide

We had a free day to explore Adelaide, where there is a lot going on, with a Fringe Festival and a WOMADelaide event also. The Hilton, where we are staying, is very centrally located, and seems to be full of weird and wonderful folk, who might be described as being "beyond the fringe"!

I took the free tram to Rundle Mall, which is not a mall in British or American sense of a large building with lots of shops, but a pedestrianised street. It is the main shopping street in the city of Adelaide and has a few Victorian style arcades running at right angles to it. The most prestigious of these is the Adelaide Arcade.






The shops are certainly of the old-fashioned ilk, including a shoe-repair shop with cricket bats in the window...





And, of all things, a button shop! I have never seen so many buttons in my life.





I have to say it does not come close to the elegance of the Strand Arcade in Sydney, but it gets top marks for quirkiness!

From the shopping area I crossed North Terrace to the Museum of South Australia, recommended by the guide who met us at the airport. As an aside I should mention that the centre of Adelaide is approximately a square mile with a Terrace on each side.






This is a view of the museum building and the stunning buildings below are across the road.











These beautiful buildings are across from the museum.

Although there was a interesting exhibit on the Pre-Dinosaur era, I chose to spend my time in the two galleries which focus on Aboriginal culture, art and artefacts. There seemed to be no restriction on photography at all and the displays were truly fascinating.

Shields...





Water carriers...





Bark paintings...





One of the most interesting displays is of the Yuendumu Doors which had been painted at a school in the 1980s. Each of the ten on display tells an aboriginal "dreaming" story, part of the rich oral tradition of the aboriginal peoples.



















"ADELAIDE.- The Yuendumu Doors, on permanent display in the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery from 7 October 2011, represent one of the earliest examples of Aboriginal artists successfully transferring their ancient ground paintings to a large-scale, modern medium. The Yuendumu Doors were created in 1983 by senior Warlpiri men, including Paddy Japaljarri Stewart and Paddy Japaljarri Sims, who took the historic opportunity to paint their sacred Dreaming designs onto the doors of the remote Yuendumu school, 250km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It was a key moment in the history of Australian art and it symbolised the Warlpiri’s decision to explain the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) to the world beyond their desert home. There are 30 original Doors. Ten Doors will now be on permanent display. These unique objects of history and culture not only reveal ancient stories and beliefs, but also the graffiti and scars of exposure to the elements and the schoolyard."

There is a book about the project, published this week, which I was sorely tempted to buy, because each individual door is amazing. Maybe I will go back tomorrow, if I have the time.


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