Shore Excursions
Corporate Services
Travel Concierge
Vacation in Australia
Travel Australia
Driver Hire / Tour Guide
Links
About Us
Contact Us / Policy
Home

Meridian Tours
ABN 60522 715 602

Tel + 61 3 9853 0701
Fax + 61 3 9853 4747
PO Box 406 Richmond
Victoria Australia 3122
Australia
Email: Meridian Tours

Aboriginal Art Tour

Half Day Trip - 4 hours duration
The tour provides authentic experiences and visits public and private collections of Aboriginal art and artefacts including a private gallery to view traditional and contemporary Fine Art. This tour also includes Melbourne city attractions

Full Day Trip 6 hours duration
The tour visits public and private collections of Aboriginal art and artefacts in the CBD including a private gallery to view traditional and contemporary Fine Art.
The tour travels to the Dandenong Ranges, just one hour from Melbourne and visits a Sculpture Garden depicting Aboriginal figures, animals and stories from sacred indigenous legends. The garden is the lifetime work of a white artist, William Ricketts. His work depicts his deep respect of their culture and care of the environment. This tour also includes Melbourne city attractions.

ENQUIRY FORM
Name
Country/City
Email
No. of people
Tour
Dates
Telephone
(include country & area code)
Best time to call

This is a customised, private tour with your own driver/guide travelling in a six-seater vehicle.

Aboriginal Guide

Australian Aborigines have the longest continually maintained culture in the world spanning possibly 65,000 years. Their art, stories and systems of beliefs are undoubtedly the oldest on earth - and thousands of years older than Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The itinerary content was created with the guidance of indigenous descendants of the Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri tribes and people of the Kulin Nation, in and beyond Melbourne, Victoria. The commentary includes the early history and contemporary lifestyle from the arrival of Aborigines into Australia to current day.

Meridian Tours is the only Melbourne tour company to offer this tour that is an authentic experience with insider access to view exceptional Aboriginal fine Art.

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal art is thousands of years older than Egyptian hieroglyphs (5,000 years) and older than the Great Wall of China (5th century BC). Indigenous art is a record of stories that have been handed down through generations depicting how the land was created (called 'Dream Time'); the earth, hills and terrain of traditional tribal landscapes. Their art is imbued with depictions of hunting, gathering, how to live life and ceremonial activities. Aboriginal art connects tribes past and present; the supernatural and the earthly. It connects ALL to the land that they believe is owned by no-one. Conversely they believe the land owns them!

In 1970’s in central Australia, a white school teacher encouraged Aboriginal Elders and descendants to paint their stories on canvas. As art was intrinsic in their culture, an abundance of work was soon produced that also fostered a renewed interest and respect for their ancient cultural heritage. Art dealers widely distributed and sold this work. Today Aboriginal Art continues to provide income to many Indigenous artists living in impoverished communities.

This era is now claimed as one of the greatest aesthetic movements of the 20th century.

Aboriginal Fine Art and Haute Couture

In 2009 the Art Director of Hermes, Paris commissioned the work of Indigenous artist Gloria Petyarre, for its spring scarf collection. This commission could be the beginning of Aboriginal art designs that may in the future become the ‘new aesthetic’ of haut couture and bespoke fashion.

Meridian Tours acknowledges the Ancestors and Elders of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of the land.