We went to the Araluen Cultural Centre today. They have the Albert Namatjira art gallery there. Wow. Read his story (Hermannsburg school, his tutor Battarbee) and got to see some of his works. A real highlight of the trip for me.

Next door is the Central Australia Museum. Saw the crocodile fossils, some of the ancient geological history of the area and the Strehlow Research Centre. There are displays about archaeology in the area. TGH Strehlow was a missionary I think and he accumulated a massive collection of local aboriginal art, artefacts, weapons, language and genealogy. It has become a very important collection that is still being studied. He translated 8,000 words into a dictionary in 3 different aboriginal languages.

And then on to the Central Australian Aviation Museum which is a small museum in a ConnAir hangar focused on the role of the plane in opening up central Australia. Very interesting. They had a DC3 which you could climb into and the inside was converted into a cinema. A movie made in the 1970's about the man Connellan, a pioneer in civil aviation, and the role of planes in opening up the interior was playing. It was made on 16 mm film. The people, the 70's clothes, the HQ Holdens, it was very revealing and a little bit funny even though it did not mean to be.

J feeling crook again so upped his treatment a bit.