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Indigenous Arts Alive in the Territory
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Indigenous Arts Alive in the TerritoryIn August, at the end of the Northern Territory’s dry season when cool, cloudless evenings create a galaxy-filled night sky, Darwin celebrates Indigenous art. Every year at this time the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory presents the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, the nation’s premier recognition of Indigenous artistic excellence. To take part in the celebration, and to see the winners of the $56,000 in prize money on offer from sponsor Telstra, artists, commercial dealers, private collectors, and art centre operators travel to the Territory capital from across Australia. It’s an opportunity to see the best in Aboriginal art, the new and emerging talents, spot the new trends, and to catch up with old friends. More than 2500 people will crowd into the museum grounds to hear Indigenous bands from Arnhem Land perform in an event that is the longest-running art award dedicated to the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Sales of the paintings, sculpture, bark paintings and new media on show will total over a million dollars. Make no mistake: Aboriginal art is big business in the Northern Territory. It is an industry worth $100 million with over 5000 Indigenous participants. Furthermore, there are important spin-off benefits, with Tourism NT research showing that Indigenous art and culture is a major tourism drawcard. The ‘Telstra Award’ is not, however, the only Territory Indigenous art event. A record 32 Indigenous owned art centres from Arnhem Land, the Kimberley region, central Australia, the Torres Strait Islands and as far away as Victoria presented work at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. In Alice Springs the annual Desert Mob Exhibition breaks new attendance records every year, confirming the Territory’s position as the unsurpassed centre for Indigenous art and culture. The news is also spreading abroad. There are regular exhibitions of Australian Indigenous art, as well as sales of Indigenous music in Europe. The USA is an emerging international market. Quality Australian international touring exhibitions such as the Papunya Tula Artists, ‘We Are Here Sharing Our Dreaming’ in New York’s Greenwich Village, and The National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors Washington DC Exhibition succeeded in expanding the market for Aboriginal art. Jean Baptiste Apuatimi’s first solo international exhibition in London provided stepping stones into international markets with the British Museum purchasing works. The world over, Australian Aboriginal art is no longer seen as a traditional art form but is increasingly seen as contemporary fine art. Though its true significance is only known to Indigenous people, urban buyers and collectors respond to its enigmatic quality and its striking flair. Where does it come from? The Northern Territory is the centre for Indigenous art in Australia, and remote communities from the tropical top of the country to the arid centre are the dispersed capitals of the art form. Most Indigenous Territorians reside in rural and remote regions distant from mainstream economic activity. An estimated 70 per cent of Indigenous Territorians live on their traditional land which provides the inspiration for their art. Their strong bond with the land of their ancestors is the driving force behind most Indigenous art. The success of Indigenous art has been mainly concentrated in the visual arts where there has been rapid growth over the last 30 years. In the Top End of the Territory, where rock art has been a cultural fixture for millennia, artists began painting using brushes and paints fashioned from natural materials on bark stripped from local trees. In central Australia, painters were introduced to acrylics and canvas. When provided with materials, the desert artists used an iconography derived from ages-old traditional body painting. The intricate dotted designs were regarded as largely ethnographic tribal curios. But the idea of seeing the works as distinctly Indigenous art began to change. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, this art has evolved to a point where it is nationally and internationally recognised as an exceptional fine art movement. Arguably, this rapid transformation of ethnographic to fine art and the Indigenous visual arts penetration of global fine arts markets is unprecedented anywhere. What is more, the movement is not static. It is vibrant and expanding, with new arts communities emerging with innovative contemporary styles. Many communities have built strong international reputations from art originating in remote local art centres. Often the art from regional communities features strong, distinctive styles, such as the intricate dot paintings of the Papunya Tula artists, or the X-ray art of western Arnhem Land. The art centres provide artists with materials and work space, plus marketing and distribution facilities. Most take orders from buyers worldwide on their internet sites. The growth of Indigenous art is not confined to painting or other visual arts. Indigenous music rising from the towns and communities of the Northern Territory is also growing in popularity nationally and internationally. Musical groups originating in the communities deal with subjects close to their hearts: songs about Indigenous land rights, ceremonies and cultural imperatives. The first group to make its mark nationally to enjoy popular success was the Yothu Yindi group from east Arnhem Land, followed by the soaring voice of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. Both write and perform music that is derived from their mysterious, deeply ingrained culture. Yunupingu’s music, along with other Territory groups are now marketed across Europe and the USA, alongside the fine art produced in the Northern Territory by the first Australians. “Their strong bond with the land of their ancestors is the driving force behind most Indigenous art.” The Northern Territory – Asia’s Front DoorIt was a whirlwind trip where a host of regional issues were discussed in a very short time. New to the Business, Asian Relations and Trade portfolios, the Territory Minister flew north to meet her Philippine and Indonesian counterparts and make a keynote address at an economic forum. While visiting Manila and Jakarta, she canvassed regional issues such as the skilled worker shortage, the live cattle trade and the growth of the regional mining industry. Such trips are business as usual for 21st century Territory politicians. Regardless of which party holds government, they realise early on that their neighbours to the north are just as important to the Northern Territory’s economic future as their capital city clients to the south. Developing those trade ties has been an ongoing effort that has led to ever-increasing sales of bulk minerals, LNG, live cattle, mining supplies and services to Asian buyers. One glance at a map shows why Asia is so important to the Territory, both economically and culturally. Many major south Asian capitals are closer to Darwin than are the Australian capitals of Sydney or Canberra. Jakarta, Manila and Singapore are closer by air than Sydney, with the Balinese capital of Denpasar just over two hours flight from Darwin. It is no wonder that so many Asian people from around the region have settled in the Northern Territory capital, creating the multicultural population mix that continues to define Darwin. Territorians have been engaging with Asia long before Europeans arrived. Hailing from the island of Sulawesi in the Indonesian archipelago, Makassan sailors caught the monsoon winds that drove them south to the wild Territory coastline. They began making regular annual visits in the early 18th Century when a market for trepang (sea cucumber) opened in China. Not long after Europeans arrived, gold was discovered by workers digging post holes for the Overland Tegraph line, and would-be miners spread into the country around Pine Creek. Brought in to work the mines in 1874, a small boat load of indentured Chinese labourers landed in Darwin. By 1888 there were 8000 Chinese in the region, outnumbering Europeans six to one. Above all, the Chinese started dynasties which, five and six generations later, are still prominent in the Top End. In 2012 the daughter of a former Chinese-Australian Darwin Lord Mayor was the second Fong Lim to be elected to that post. Walk through one of Darwin’s many open-air markets and take notice of those you pass. Many are the great grandsons and daughters of the Chinese immigrants who pioneered the Territory’s mining industry. They could be the latest generation of Malays or Filipinos who today captain the Territory’s Aussie Rules footy teams, or perhaps the sons and daughters of Vietnamese and Timorese refugees who often top the Territory’s school examination lists. Trade between Asia and the Territory has been going on in earnest for over a century. In 1884 pastoralists Fisher and Lyons sent a trial shipment of mixed cattle to the ‘wet markets’ of Hong Kong, Batavia and Singapore, aboard the steamship Catterthun. Cattle prospered on the native grasses of sprawling Territory properties, and over the years live cattle markets were established in the Philippines, East Malaysia, Brunei (for buffalo as well) and most importantly in Indonesia. Today live cattle exports remains one of the Territory’s most valuable rural industries, with Indonesia remaining the premier customer and Vietnam an emerging market. A much more recent industry was initiated after major discoveries of natural gas and petroleum were made off the Territory coast in the Timor Sea. In 2004, ConocoPhillips built the Darwin LNG plant for the manufacture of liquified natural gas for export to Japan, with the gas supplied from their Bayu-Undan field 500km north of Darwin. Then in 2012 Japanese gas and oil producer INPEX made its final investment decision to build a LNG plant in Darwin Harbour, with the gas piped nearly 900km from their offshore field in the Browse Basin. With the ConocoPhillips project already supplying Japan’s energy needs, and with INPEX to begin exports to Japan in 2016, Darwin is fast becoming a hub for LNG production in the region. A number of other offshore projects are also set come into production, with the gas produced offshore in floating LNG facilities. Many of these projects will be supplied from Darwin’s emerging service industry, located near the Wharf at the East Arm Logistics Precinct and Darwin’s new Marine Supply Base. 18th century China was the market for the Territory’s first export: trepang, and today the economic powerhouse is the key market for Territory minerals. As Chinese manufacturing continues to grow with a force envied by other world economies, fuelling that growth are exports of Australian minerals: manganese and iron ore is mined in the Territory and transported to the port of Darwin by rail. Uranium is exported with many new mines planned. Chinese companies are taking advantage of Territory Government exploration initiatives by participating in joint ventures with Australian explorers. Much of the Territory landmass remains unexplored and potentially rich in mineralisation, offering golden exploration opportunities. The engagement continues. The Northern Territory Government’s aggressive promotion of Darwin has seen it lead numerous trade missions to Asia and delegations to mining conferences around Australia. Territory business people participating in the missions like Offshore South-East Asia in Singapore, Oz Mine in Jakarta and the Balikpapan Expo meet mining procurement officials looking for faster, better supply services for their operations. The Territory Government also sponsors its own industry conferences, attracting mining representatives from around the region to Darwin’s Mining Procurement Forum or offshore gas and oil officials to the annual South-East Asia Australia Offshore Conference (SEAAOC). Complementing these activities is the Indonesian Customs Pre-Inspection Facility in Darwin. The facility is a joint initiative of the Northern Territory and Indonesian governments, providing a free service to exporters, streamlining the clearance of cargo once it arrives in eastern Indonesia. While ministerial visits from the Territory to Asian capitals have been ongoing, it is perhaps a barometer of Darwin’s growing significance in the region that has seen world leaders recently visiting the Territory capital. Newspapers around the world ran the photos of US President Obama addressing Australian troops in Darwin in 2012, before announcing the addition of US Marines to training facilities in the Territory. That visit came after a visit by China’s Vice President, Xi Jinping, who is set to become that country’s next president. The Northern Territory is Australia’s Asian Front Door—not only in the sense of its location on the regional map, but in its commercial and cultural identity. The Territory’s future is intertwined with that of its northern neighbours, all anticipating the opportunities forecast in the Asian Century.
You are invited Emerging champions from around the Asia-Pacific and Australia region
For more information visit: www.arafuragames.nt.gov.au or email: arafuragames@nt.gov.au Renewable Energy TerritoryThe Northern Territory Government’s Climate Change Policy includes goals to reduce NT carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Wholesale electricity producers in the Territory are to meet the national 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target from Territory sources by 2020. The ambitious Climate Change strategy features 40 targets including a commitment to progressively displace expensive diesel-powered electricity generation in remote communities and replace it with renewable and low emissions energy—a combination of solar power, tidal power generation, wind turbine generation and geothermal energy. The government also established a Green Energy Taskforce to “provide expert advice on strategies, incentives and pathways to encourage the growth and funding of renewable and low emissions energy industry in the Territory”. That 13 member taskforce reported that, because the Territory lacks sufficient wind to erect turbines on any commercial scale, the most practical way of meeting its 2020 energy goal in the short term is to acquire renewable energy that was generated by wind turbines in southern Australia in the form of renewable energy certificates. That purchase will displace a megawatt hour from a coal fired plant with about double the emissions reduction that will occur with clean natural gas fired generation in the NT. But, can the Territory meet the 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020 and replace diesel use on remote communities? Power to Territory cities and major towns is currently generated by natural gas, which is relatively carbon friendly and provides a reliable fuel for use by electricity provider, the Power and Water Corporation. By comparison, the multimillion dollar one megawatt solar power station built outside Alice Springs can only hope to provide electricity to 300 homes over a year. Like most solar systems, the upfront infrastructure costs are expensive but ongoing costs are negligible. The providers know the price of solar- produced power is dropping because they are purchasing it from their new solar plant. The Uterne set-up is currently the largest tracking solar power plant in the southern hemisphere. The name Uterne is derived from an Indigenous term meaning ‘bright, sunny day’, and Alice Springs certainly sees plenty of those averaging 9.6 hours of sunshine per day and just 63 cloudy days per year. The Uterne set-up consists of more than 3000 high-efficiency SunPower mono-crystalline panels or flat plate solar panels, driven by the company’s single axis T20 tracker system. With the single axis T20 Tracker system, the solar panels are positioned to follow the sun during the day, increasing daily energy production by up to an additional 30 per cent over conventional fixed-tilt installations. Two years ago Alice Springs was named one of the country’s seven Solar Cities by the Australian Government. It is a town that boasts about 300 sunny days every year. The town was charged with the task of not only increasing the use of solar generated power but also changing the way people think about and use energy in both homes and businesses. In an effort to make Alice Springs a national and international showcase for solar power, a set of iconic projects was initiated including the one megawatt solar power station and the Alice Solar City flagship, the 300 kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system installed on the roof of the town’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Crowne Plaza installation was completed at a capital cost of $3 million. The sprawling system is one of the largest rooftop- mounted set of solar arrays in the Southern Hemisphere, powering between 40 and 80 per cent of the hotel’s needs, depending on the season. But the hotel’s spectacular infrastructure set-up is matched by its installation of other energy saving products. More than 3000 energy-efficient lightbulbs have been fitted to rooms, and the hotel’s energy management system saves energy by automatically turning off the air-conditioning when it senses a room is vacant. The Alice Solar City project, which runs until 2013, has been embraced by the community with nearly 2000 households and 100 businesses registered in the program and over 1600 receiving energy surveys to date. The project has subsidised the installation in nearly 300 homes of PV systems that produce about half of their yearly power requirements. Out bush, ten major remote communities will have some of their power generated by solar panels, drastically reducing their requirements for diesel to be imported at enormous cost. Just last year the communities of Alpurrurulam (also known as Lake Nash), Ti Tree and Kalkarindji had solar power stations installed with commissioning scheduled for mid 2012. Wind turbines will also be trialled at Alpurrurulam. These three communities have a total of one million watts of solar panels installed, which will deliver up to 80 per cent of the electricity that residents use during the day. In smaller bush communities and outstations Bushlight supplies solar power plants that can power 100 per cent of small community needs. More than 71 are already enjoying clean power. Since 2003 a total of 30 futuristic-looking concentrated PV tracking dishes have been installed in the large communities of Hermannsburg, Lajamanu and Yuendumu. The Power and Water Corporation purchased those power stations, which provide up to 60 per cent of those communities’ electrical needs. But solar power is just one form of renewable energy among others with promising emerging technology. Of growing interest is geothermal and tidal power. Tenax Energy, a tidal power producer, believes the strong tides in the Clarence Strait, just north of Darwin, make it the best tidal energy site in Australia. They believe the strait has sufficient tidal current to generate a commercial quantity of electricity and has sufficient depth to put a set of turbines in to allow shipping and other activities to continue in the area without disruption. Exploration for ‘hot rocks’ kilometres below the surface will begin soon in the Territory, one of the country’s most highly prospective areas for geothermal energy. On the first day that exploration tenements were advertised, 17 companies made applications for geothermal exploration permits. Geothermal energy is essentially the use of hot water to provide power. It works by pumping water deep underground into naturally occurring hot rocks, and bringing the heated water back to the surface to generate power. There are two types of geothermal energy available for Territory exploration and development. The first, called hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal, sees explorers drilling down between 3km and 5km to identify granite rocks heated to about 290 degrees Celcius. The hole is drilled using specialised equipment at a minimum cost of $10 million. While the Territory Government has received applications for hot rocks tenements, it has reserved an area between the Daly River and Mataranka for release at a later date. It is a region known for shallow heat in the Douglas and Mataranka Hot Springs, with the possibility of even greater heat in between. The area will probably attract companies looking for shallower, more cost-effective geo- sedimentary projects. It is also an area that could produce power to add to the Darwin- Katherine grid, providing the Territory with a reliable, economic source of emission-free renewable energy. “The sprawling system is one of the largest rooftop-mounted set of solar arrays in the southern hemisphere, powering between 40 and 80 per cent of the hotel’s needs, depending on the season.” AdvertisementWant to know what’s going on in the Territory? Join the Q! It’s easy to subscribe to Territory Q, the Northern Territory’s business and industry quarterly magazine Simply email: majorprojects.info@nt.gov.au Or view us online at www.theterritory.com.au and click on ‘publications’ The on “Q” you’ll want to be in! AdvertisementAustralia’s Northern Territory... it’s closer than you think. Darwin... the gateway to Asia AdvertisementinvestNT Invest in Australia’s Northern Territory The Northern Territory boasts abundant natural resources, world-class infrastructure and Australia’s lowest tax environment for small to medium businesses. Discover exciting investment opportunities through investNT, connecting investors with investment ready projects. Updated regularly with the latest information, the investNT online portal provides investors with what they need to make important investment decisions. Visit www.investnt.com.au to discover your next investment. 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