We continue on our free tour of Adelaide with an hour or so at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Culture Institute. This center is Australia’s oldest Aboriginal owned arts center, featuring Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander art. Tandanya is the Kaurna people’s name for Adelaide (they were the original inhabitants of the area). It is also the word for Red Kangaroo place – which the center uses as part of its logo.
Inside the large warehouse like space of the center, there are exhibitions (currently showcasing two Torres Straight natives, both block art prints of intricate design), a space for video presentations and educational training, as well as cultural presentations. (No photos allowed – so use your imagination!). But what makes the center truly fascinating are the guides – in particular, Stephanie, who is a little bundle of dynamic energy, so full of life, mischief and knowledge. When we arrive, we are all alone in the center (the morning bus tours have already come and gone and there is only one tour left for the afternoon). Stephanie begins to give us a little overview of the Aboriginal artwork hanging on the walls – talking about the artists – when we are joined by 2 more cruise passengers and we all join together for an informative hour or so learning Aboriginal history from Stephanie.
We watch a short video on the traditional didgeridoo, then Stephanie launches into an explanation of all the different Aboriginal nations (she is from the Ngarrindjeri nation which is located SE of Adelaide in beautiful marshlands on the coast). She talks about the differences in the nations, how the government has tried to do interventions (similar to the Indian Reservations in the US, in a way) and how, as a people, the Aboriginals are still fairly discriminated against. But, she is very upbeat while describing situations and completely mesmerizing in her style of teaching! She talks about the “Stolen Generation” (when women were “stolen” and used as sex slaves) and how her great-great-grandmother was one of the “stolen” ones.
Fascinating! And on top of it all – she is a “crafter”! She is wearing some great bead jewelry – which we admire – and she shows us to her little desk in the corner where she has a ton of jewelry for sale. Awesome! We end up with birthday gifts and a bracelet for me. True Aborigine art – made by a real Aboriginal native who we’ve bonded with over the last hour!
The next tour bus rolls in and it is our signal to leave! We wander back out into the sunshine of another perfect day and make our way back to Rundle mall, snapping away at all the beautiful buildings along the way.
The mall is – well – a big walking pedestrian shopping center. Stores packed with expensive merchandise (sheesh, it is so pricey here! We don’t know how people do it!). We wander up and down, looking at some of the more unusual sculptures along the walk – the Spheres – which are referred to as the “Mall’s Balls”…
And the adorable bronze pig statues that are so almost lifelike!
After that – it’s back to Beehive corner and Haigh’s – the famous local chocolatier (where you need a mortgage for a gram of chocolate! But we still pick up a couple of their “famous” chocolate frogs for Jossy – our dinner hostess)….
…then back on the shuttle to the ship. Great day – even though it wasn’t what we’d planned. Adelaide turned out to be one of our favorite ports –and if it weren’t so darn hard to get to – it would be somewhere we’d come back and spend a couple of days. Never say never though!
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