The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual

arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...

in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

lifestyle. The festival is held over 18 days in August and comprises a series of events including outdoor concerts, workshops, theatre, dance music, comedy,

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

, film and

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...

. The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair is held under the umbrella of the festival, and the Garma Festival, NATSIAA art awards, and

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in ...

are within the festival period. In 2022, Darwin Festival was held from 4 to 21 August. The 2023 festival is scheduled for 10-27 August 2023.

History

19th century

Darwin has a tradition of street parades and festival events dating back to early European settlement, following the issuing of Letters Patent annexing the Northern Territory to South Australia, 1863. The Township of Palmerston (as Darwin was then named) was surveyed by the South Australian Surveyor General GW Goyder in 1869 and by 1888 the non-Indigenous population of the Northern Territory consisted of around 1,200 Europeans and 6,000 Chinese people. Chinese New Year processions organised by the Chinese storekeepers, market gardeners and

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

s who settled in

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman an ...

after the gold rushes of the 1870s were hugely popular.

1900s–1940s

Palmerston was renamed Darwin following the Commonwealth takeover of the Northern Territory in 1911. By this time, largely through the restrictions of the

White Australia Policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

, Darwin's Asian population was in decline and amid growing civil unrest,

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

- organised marches gained in popularity. The

Eight Hour Day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 1 ...

Movement demonstration processions, popular in the early 1900s, were followed by Labour Day and May Day Marches held by the Darwin Workers' Club between 1919 and the late 1930s. Despite the restrictive immigration policy the Chinese community remained active in the social life of the town and formed the Darwin Chinese Recreation Club in December 1923 to take on all comers in the sports of boxing, Australian rules football, tennis, swimming and soccer. A small number of Italian migrants from

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

, Argentina, landed at

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

in 1914 and found employment at

Vestey's Meatworks Vestey's Meatworks, officially the North Australia Meat Company, was a slaughterhouse in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, built by Vestey Brothers between 1914 and 1917. Never profitable, it operated for three years before the company ab ...

. Following the attacks on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the civilian population of Darwin was ordered to be evacuated and Darwin and the surrounding area was placed under military control following a

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systemati ...

by the Japanese Air Force on 19 February 1942. The township was extensively damaged during a subsequent series of air raids on Australia by the Japanese Air Force between February 1942 and November 1943. During this time, Darwin was a garrison town under the control of the Department of the Army, who spared no effort to improve recreational and entertainment facilities for troops based in Darwin. At the end of the Second World War, Darwin reverted to civil control, with many of the evacuated administrative staff and the civilian population returning early in 1946. The departure of most of the armed services from the Northern Territory left little in the way of public entertainment facilities and following a public meeting the Darwin Workers' Club was re-established. A combined Stadium, Concert Hall and Meeting Place opened on 31 May 1946 with money subscribed and lent by its members and a series of concerts, fund raisers and boxing tournaments were staged at the Stadium after its completion in December 1946. The civilian population of the Northern Territory was increasing steadily and the 1947 census return recorded a population of 2,538 people inside the Darwin Town boundary. May Day celebrations resumed in 1947, with a monster sports programme and a street procession led by

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

staff. A large group of Aboriginal men who joined the march won the prize for the best parade. Although much of China Town had been dismantled, a small number of Chinese people returned to Darwin after the war, re-establishing their businesses and building new homes in the outlying suburbs.

1950s–1980s

Chinese New Year celebrations resumed in 1950 and in 1953 the Darwin Chinese Recreation Club reformed and participated in a street procession as part of the Coronation Week Celebration in Darwin. An annual grant to assist Australian cultural organisations was instituted by the Commonwealth Government in 1952 and the sum of 1 000 pounds was distributed through five organisations in the Northern Territory, thereby enabling small festival type events. By 1964

Commonwealth government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

funding for cultural events was available to local organisations through a funding committee attached to the Northern Territory Administration Department of Welfare. Initial applications were made to the Regional Grants Committee in each local centre and passed on to the Administrator or to the Minister for final approval. In 1964/65 the first of these grants for the staging of exhibitions and events was received by the City of Darwin Festival Committee; the North Australian Eisteddfod Council; and the Centralian Arts Society. This led to the staging of the first City of Darwin Festival in 1964. In addition to the North Australia

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, ac ...

, an exhibition of Aboriginal bark paintings was staged by the local (Darwin) Arts Council. The Arts Council of the Northern Territory formed from a public meeting held in 1968 and affiliated with the newly-formed

Australian Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...

, thereby enabling the Territory body to give greater opportunities to local artists and stage performances from visiting international artists. For the next 10 years, the festival featured sporting and cultural events that increasingly reflected the '

ocker The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in a rough and uncultivated manner, using Strine, a broad Australian accent. Definition Richard Neville defined ockerism as being "about conviviality: ...

' image of many Darwin residents, culminating in a beer drinking competition and the staging of the first Beer Can Regatta in 1974. The festivities were temporarily halted by the evacuation of Darwin following

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city i ...

, which devastated the city and its northern suburbs on Christmas Day 1974. Following the evacuation of Darwin and a short intense period of reconstruction, by late 1977, plans were under way for a Back to Darwin Event to be held in May 1978. The modern festival evolved from the Bougainvillea Festival staged in 1979 to celebrate the first year of Northern Territory self-government. During the 1980s the festival featured floral processions, sporting events and a Mardi Gras concert.

1990s–2000s

By the 1990s, the focus of the festival shifted to include community arts and aspects of Darwin's multiculturalism. The event was renamed the Festival of Darwin in 1996 and later renamed Darwin Festival in 2003 to reflect its growing international status. In October 2022, gas company Santos announced that it would no longer finance the festival, after nearly 30 years of sponsorship.

Climate change activist Individual action on climate change can include personal choices in many areas, such as diet, travel, household energy use, consumption of goods and services, and family size. Individuals can also engage in local and political advocacy around issu ...

s had been lobbying to end the association, more so since the controversial planned Barossa gas field off the territory's coast. The board had arranged alternative sponsorship.

Description

The festival is usually held over 18 days and nights, and includes local and touring performances and events. There are outdoor concerts, workshops, theatre,

acts, comedians, film and other performing and

on show. In 2022, the festival was held from 4 to 21 August. The 2023 festival is scheduled to run from 10 to 27 August 2023.

Associated events

The

(NIMA) and Garma Festival are held in the same period as the Darwin Festival.

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair

The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) began as a complement to the

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) is Australia's longest running Indigenous art award. Established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darw ...

(NATSIAA), which began in 1984. The event now takes place as part of the Darwin Festival. The work of both emerging and established artists is showcased at the fair, which enables arts industry buyers, as well as art loves, to buy art directly from art centres which are owned and operated by

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. The 16th edition of the art fair was held from 5 to 7 August in 2022 in the

Darwin Convention Centre The Darwin Convention Centre is a convention centre located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Construction started on the convention centre in early 2006 and completed in June 2008, with the centre opening in July of that year. The conven ...

, after two years of having been held online due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. There were 78 art centres represented at the event. The art fair is scheduled to run from 11 to 13 August in 2023.

References

External links

* * {{official, https://daaf.com.au/, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Festivals in the Northern Territory Darwin, Northern Territory