Highlights
Bathurst Island Tiwi and Aboriginal Culture
Make your own way to Darwin General Aviation
Airport to check in by 7.30am. After a 30 minute scenic flight (additional cost) you
arrive at the Aboriginal community of Nguiu on Bathurst Island. With your local guide
visit the museum with its interesting displays of traditional art and depictions of the
Tiwi 'dreamtime' stories and Early Mission Precinct with its unique Tiwi style Catholic
Church. Be taken through the successful arts and crafts centres and see where the artists
work. At morning tea we spend time with some Tiwi ladies enjoying billy tea and damper
while they work on their weaving and painting. Your guides and the ladies also demonstrate
their totem dances and perform a smoking ceremony to bless the visitors. Set out for a
scenic drive through the wilderness of Bathurst Island. Enjoy lunch and time at a
waterhole for a swim. Visit a lookout, which is also the setting of a Tiwi burial site,
and learn some of the complex rituals associated with the Pukamani Poles (burial poles).
Learn about traditional bush tucker and medicine, and natural fibres and dyes on your
return to Nguiu for your return flight to Darwin (additional cost). (L)
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