Asia and Australia 2025
Day 2: Monday 07 July 2025
Melbourne
Buildings in Melbourne. Most of the most impressive older buildings in downtown Melbourne were constructed during the boom years following the Gold Rush of the 1850s.
We stumbled across Original and Authentic Aboriginal Art, an art gallery, and were shown around by its charming and very well-informed curator.
Brochure for Original and Authentic Aboriginal Art.pdf
Aboriginal Art Exhibit. This painting describes the flow of water through tribal land.
This beautiful painting is by Peter Dhinawan, from Dirranbandi, Queensland.
We were so impressed by Dhanawan’s work, that we bought these two matching paintings, entitled “Emu Dreaming”. The symbol is an emu foot.
Peter Dhinawan was born in Brisbane in 1967, and grew up in Dirranbandi, south-west Queensland. The translation of Dirranbandi is ‘frogs around a water hole’. Starting painting in 2000, he was encouraged by fellow artists to paint his grandmother’s story. He expresses connection to his family and sadness about the loss of Aboriginal culture.
Peter recently went through traditional initiation, and is the first Kamilaroi male initiated in his country in a century.
Peter’s ‘Emu Dreaming’ was passed down from his grandmother. The story involves the Emu eating quandong fruit and helping to disperse its seeds.
A critic’s comment: Peter is one of the most exciting emerging Aboriginal Artists. His work depicts his dreamings with precise, tightly executed lines, producing geometrical masterpieces.
For the key to the symbols in the paintings:
Emu Dreaming symbols
Princess Theatre, Spring Street Melbourne.
Andrew outside Princess Theatre, where he worked as a lighting technician in the 1980s, also for the Australian Opera Company.
Buildings in Melbourne’s Bourke Street
The Royal Arcade, Collins Street, Melbourne
Travel Diary
onegai shimasu
dö tashimashite
sumimasen
hai/iie
arigatö gozaimasu