BATHURST ISLAND ONE DAY TOUR
Bathurst and Melville Island are twenty minutes flying time
north of Darwin.
A visit to these islands makes for a rich cultural interaction where you
can observe traditions that have withstood the impact of the outside
world for centuries.
The Tiwi are a sea
people with a fierce strong cultural heritage. They have successfully
resisted the original European intrusions and remain a stronghold of
cultural tradition manifested in their stunning art, independent outlook
and adoption of Australian rules football as a Tiwi
pastime practiced with religious fervour. Daily
life still revolves strongly around harvesting the abundant marine foods
from the island shores. Your visit will provide you with an insight to
the main Tiwi community at Nguiu
and explain some of the history of Tiwi
creation, early European contact, conversion by catholic missionaries and
modern Tiwi enterprises.
ONE DAY TOUR
After a wonderful scenic flight you arrive
at Bathurst Island where you are met by
a Tiwi guide and taken on a journey through the
progressive community of Nguiu visiting the
museum and Early Mission Precinct with its unique Tiwi
style Catholic Church. You are then taken through the successful arts and
crafts centres, see the artists at work and
have the opportunity to purchase Tiwi arts and
crafts and screen-printed fabric at Island
prices. You will spend some time with some Tiwi
ladies enjoying billy tea and damper, watching
as they work on their weaving and painting and perform their totem
dances. Then it is off on a scenic drive through the wilderness of the Island visiting a picturesque lookout which is also
the setting of a Tiwi burial site and learning
some of the complex rituals associated with the Pukamani
Poles (burial poles). It’s then time for lunch and a visit to the
local waterhole for a swim before learning about traditional bush tucker,
medicine and natural fibres and dyes on your
return to the community for your return flight to Darwin.
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