Parrtjima Festival lights up the Northern Territories Red Centre
Alice Springs is home to the world’s only Indigenous light festival, which is a free 10-day convergence of art, music, food and culture.
As an Alice Springs novice, the thing that stands out most as I coast along the bike trail that snakes around the base of the West MacDonnell Ranges isn’t the perfectly mild April weather – it’s a delicious 25C. It’s the surprising green of the landscape.
The hills that surround us as we ride the cruisy 17km path that leads towards Simpsons Gap are glowing emerald in the afternoon sun. It’s a sight that even guide Luke Hoolihan, co-founder of e-bike tour company Outback Cycling, says he never tires of, six years after moving to the region from Queensland with his wife, Kerry. “The whole area just comes to life after a bit of rain,” Hoolihan says.
Earlier in the day, Arrernte guide Johnson Maloney took us through the history and culture of one of Alice Springs’ most under-appreciated geological formations. Called Angkerle Atwatye in his language, Standley Chasm lies about 40 minutes’ drive out of town and is the starting point for the popular Larapinta hiking trail. A private flora and fauna reserve owned by the Iwupataka Land Trust, the chasm is in reality a breathtakingly lush gully, formed by a dramatic split in the rock millions of years ago, and is home to a plethora of native plantlife and birdlife.
As we walk along its base, Maloney shares traditional knowledge about the native flora, which includes bush bananas, rich in vitamin B, and their edible vines; native lemongrass, used for coughs and muscle aches, and; spiky cycad palms, relative of a prehistoric plant that once dominated the region. At one point he stops and holds his ear to an adult red river gum. According to Maloney, the trees “talk”, and the older they are the more talkative they get. I put my ear to the tree and can’t contain my joy at being able to hear water gurgling within, being pulled up by the tree’s deep root systems.
Our walk culminates in a tiny split in the rock that submerges into a crisp body of water where we’re welcome to wade. I dip my feet in; “fresh” would be an understatement but it’s invigorating. Beyond this point, Maloney explains, is sacred women’s ground and off-limits to him. It’s a lesson that he elaborates on when we get back to the cafe and main entrance and learn more of the Arrernte history and skin names. If you’re inclined towards detailed mathematics, this is a fascinating dive into the intricate ways the Arrernte trace their genealogies.
At places such as Standley Chasm, the overarching appeal of Alice Springs is apparent. It’s all about discovery. Night owls, for example, can head to carbon-neutral Earth Sanctuary for a private astronomy tour featuring one of the clearest views of the night sky imaginable. Then there’s the revelation of Alice Springs Brewing Co. If you’d told me I would find one of the smoothest, richest stouts in the middle of Alice Springs, I’d have had my doubts. Located seven minutes from the centre of town, the brewery produces a perfectly balanced dark ale with traces of coffee and chocolate, plus a solid pizza menu. On the night I attend, finding a perch in the gardens, it’s extra busy, too. Many of the patrons have flocked to Alice for the opening night of 2024’s Parrtjima, the annual cultural festival that takes place against the backdrop of the MacDonnell Ranges.
Billed as the world’s only Indigenous light festival, Parrtjima is a free 10-day convergence of art, music, food and culture and, on a deeper level, a lesson in traditional ecology through artworks and installations. It’s a visual feast from the moment I arrive, as a hauntingly beautiful 6m-high puppet, Arelhe Urrperle, lopes through the crowds, occasionally stopping to “take council” with kids at her feet. Further in is a light installation that brings to life a watercolour of black cockatoos by Vanessa Inkamala, great-niece of the legendary Albert Namatjira. Art stalls and craft shops line the walkways, presenting an opportunity to purchase original pieces from Arrernte and NPY lands, including the Tjanpi Desert Weavers.
Bundjalung woman Rhoda Roberts AO, an artist and actor, joined Parrtjima in 2017 as the event’s curator. She says the festival has evolved into a new method of inma, a form of sacred ceremony that involves song and dance in Indigenous cultures. “Parrtjima is absolutely a new way of inma,” she explains. “We’re still telling the stories of our people, but we’re now using this technology that’s all around us to aid us.”
Each year brings a new theme for Parrtjima. This year it’s Timelessness but during my visit to the 2024 event, Interconnectedness was the central proposition. Nowhere is that better explained than the extravagant light show that plays along the flanks of the MacDonnell Ranges, telling the story of kwatye, the Arrernte word for rain and water.
By the time I decide to call it a night, Anangu musician Jeremy Whiskey and his band have taken the stage at the Gathering Grounds and the crowd is dancing under coloured strobe lights. The scene is so vivid, the term Red Centre suddenly feels misleading.
That shouldn’t be a surprise given this is the landscape that inspired the talents of one of Australia’s greatest artists, Namatjira, and the Hermannsburg School. His descendants, Inkamala and her brother, Reinhold, are represented by the Aboriginal-owned Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) gallery in the suburb of Ciccone. Here, established and emerging artists are learning the style of Namatjira’s watercolours, and visitors are welcome to watch them at work.
Around the corner on Wilkinson Street is Tjanpi Desert Weavers, a collective of more than 400 female artists formed by the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council. The artists use traditional skills to create surreal and functional sculptures on a wide range of creations. Magpies, camels, baskets and tea sets are all created from a mix of woven grass and emu feathers, or modern materials such as merino wool and raffia. The artists are limited only by their imagination; back in 2005, a group of artists famously “wove” a Toyota truck.
On my last day, a final taste of the town comes in the form of The Watertank Cafe. Opened in 2023, the renovated industrial shed has become a mecca for counterculture types travelling through or setting down roots. Decked out with a charmingly haphazard assortment of furnishings, it feels like dining at a cool aunt’s house. Time your visit right and you might catch a local band or a poetry reading. As a last stop, it would be an excellent source for souvenirs with its quirky collection of locally made crafts, fashion and homewares. Sadly, my bags are already full, so I compromise with a takeaway coffee and a freshly made brownie. There’s always next time.
In the know
Parrtjima 2025 runs April 4-13 with a full program of workshops, storytelling, light shows and live music. Alice Springs Desert Park opens nightly 6pm-10pm.
Standley Chasm is open daily;
general admission $12 an adult; guided tours from $140.
Outback Cycling operates out of Red Centre Adventures on Ghan Road, Ciccone; half-day e-bike hire from $90.
Earth Sanctuary runs 1 ½-hour astronomy tours for $60.
Benjamen Judd was a guest of Tourism NT.
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