The day before we left home, we heard about the Paartjima Light Festival that was being held in Alice Springs for 10 days only. A quick check of the calendar and discovered that the last night of the festival was the night we arrived in The Alice so it was a no brainer as to what we would be doing that night.
To quote the Paartjima web site "Parrtjima is the meeting place where old meets new. It is the only authentic Aboriginal light festival of it’s kind, showcasing the oldest continuous culture on earth through the newest technology – all on the 300-million-year-old natural canvas of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia."
The lighting displays represented a number of cultural themes. The Merging Kultcha symbolised "the inter-connected history between local Arrernte people and Cameleers.
This train of five illuminated camels celebrates the rich and joint history of the cameleers and Arrernte people in the Red Centre.
Each camel, over three metres high, features a mosaic of coloured glass for a stained-glass window effect that casts beautiful shadows with shimmering light onto the red sand below.
The cameleers, who arrived from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Syria and Turkey, played a key role in opening up the outback of Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. They provided supplies to remote mission stations and helped to lay crucial national infrastructure, such as the Overland Telegraph Line and sections of the Adelaide to Darwin railway, which is still in use today.
The installation acknowledges the deep connections forged by the cameleers, many who befriended and married into Aboriginal communities in Central Australia and started families that preserve this rich history. The evidence of their influence can still be felt throughout the community.
For the background to this posting, see
https://365project.org/terryliv/365-year-3/2021-04-14
