Community Calendar

A His­to­ry of Cen­tral Aus­tralian Transport

Pre­sent­ed by Aralu­en Arts Centre

Shake, Rat­tle and Roll: A His­to­ry of Cen­tral Aus­tralian Trans­port by the Green­bush Art Group at the Alice Springs Cor­rec­tion­al Cen­tre, pays trib­ute to and inter­prets the his­to­ry of trans­port in Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Ear­ly trans­port cre­at­ed a par­a­digm shift in desert regions, enabling the expan­sion of set­tler colo­nial­ism, ​‘open­ing up’ the continent’s inte­ri­or, cre­at­ing cul­tur­al com­plex­i­ty and irrev­o­ca­bly chang­ing the way peo­ple live, trav­el and engage with this country.

Using sal­vaged mate­ri­als such as scrap met­al and cop­per wire, in the strong Cen­tral Aus­tralian tra­di­tion of Bush Toy mak­ing, these del­i­cate­ly detailed and evoca­tive works chart that rapid tech­no­log­i­cal change from foot, to horse, to camel and Afghan cameleer his­to­ry, to the shrink­ing of time and space through steam pow­er and inter­nal com­bus­tion engine.

With restrict­ed access to mate­ri­als and the artists’ cre­ativ­i­ty with­in those lim­its, the exhi­bi­tion also reflects the leg­endary inge­nu­ity that was nec­es­sary for remote desert trans­port over epic dis­tances and in often bru­tal conditions.