The Ghan lights up for Parrtjima

  • 12 April 2021
Image of The Ghan train with Aboriginal artwork dot painting
Journalists from publications including Vogue Living, news.com.au, Escape, SA Weekend, The West Australian along with five social media influencers with a combined following of more than 500,000 followers will be treated to a trip of a lifetime when they take The Ghan from Darwin to Alice Springs to attend the 2021 Parrtjima, A Festival in Light.  

Tourism NT in collaboration with NT Major Events Company, Journey Beyond and AGB Events with the help of Aboriginal Central Desert artist Chantelle Mulladad, Keringke Arts, have transformed The Ghan into a spectacular piece of moving art.


Three carriages of the world-famous train have been wrapped in Chantelle Mulladad’s stunning design Crossroads, as it travels from Darwin to the Red Centre.
 

Mulladad’s work is precise and detailed, using pattern, colour, shape and structure to create paintings that depict her sense of Country, culture and self. Crossroads, is about travelling across country on a journey – which is significant and symbolic to the principles of The Ghan.

Crossroads has also been utilised in the internal treatment inside The Ghan carriage, an immersive creation which guests will get to experience as it travels through the Territory. 

To complement the external wrap a spectacular immersive light installation will light up inside one of The Ghan’s carriages, providing an engaging visual display and a taste of things to come at Parrtjima – A Festival in Light 2021. 
Presented on The Ghan through an immersive in-carriage experience, is the 2019 Ranges Show; ‘The Language of Country - Angkentye Apmere-kenhe’, which celebrates the beauty, uniqueness and survival of the ancient landscape. 

The voice of actor Aaron Pedersen, an Arrernte descendent, narrates a script written by Arrernte people, taking the audience on a stirring journey through Country, the kinship system and language.

The 2021 Ranges Show at Parrtjima will be an inspiring and enriching experience called ‘Spirit Kultcha’ - which for the first time is a collaboration with renowned Aboriginal electronic music duo ‘Electric Fields’.

Running from 9 to 18 April in Alice Springs, Parrtjima – A Festival in Light activates the desert landscape of Central Australia into a meeting place of old and new, where the festival utilises the latest technologies to showcase the oldest continuous culture on earth. For more information on the 2021 program visit https://www.parrtjimaaustralia.com.au

Page last updated on 27 March 2023