Travelodge Darwin drawn to giant mural
Hotel makes its Darwin Street Art Festival debut with two-storey painting
Hot on the heels of its Wet Season makeover in 2020, Travelodge Resort Darwin has undergone another dramatic transformation with the addition of a two-storey high mural by artist Lisa King as part of this year’s Darwin Street Art Festival.
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TFE Hotels Director of Operations ANZ, Tish Nyar, said was the company was no stranger to the Darwin Street Art Festival, with the Indigenous-owned Adina-Vibe Darwin Waterfront undergoing a similar transformation back in 2020 thanks to the addition of a five-storey pastel mural by NZ-born artist Pennyrose Wiggins.
“Our Adina-Vibe Darwin Waterfront mural features no less than 11 migratory birds and paid tribute to the Territory’s Wet Season, so it’s fitting that this year the Travelodge’s mural honours proud Danggalaba Kulumbirigin woman, Mililma May.
Australian multi-disciplinary artist and large-scale muralist, Lisa King, has recently put the finishing touches to her portrait of Mililma at the busy Cavenagh and Lindsay Street intersection in Darwin’s CBD.
Festival Producer, Jo Shearn, said Mililma was a staunch Danggalaba Kulumbirigin Tiwi woman living, working, and creating on Kulumbirigin Country and was a fitting subject for the Travelodge artwork.
Travelodge Resort General Manager, Lucy Ockleston said the team were thrilled to play a small part in honouring Mililma and looked forward to unveiling another mural in the not-too-distant future.
“When the Darwin Street Art Festival team approached us to partner again this year, we knew we had two perfect walls to not only showcase the artwork but to give the festival fantastic exposure,” she said. “With Lisa King’s artwork complete, we are very much looking forward to unveiling our second enormous six-storey mural sometime in the future.”
“Watch this space… quite literally.”
Both of the hotel murals form part of Darwin’s CBD self-guided Street Art Tourist Trail which can be accessed by downloading the DSAF app.
The Adina-Vibe artwork can be viewed from the pedestrian Sky Bridge leading to the Darwin Waterfront precinct and from street level whilst the Travelodge mural is best seen from the corner of Lindsay and Cavenagh Streets.
Ms Shearn said that Milima and Lisa had spent time together on Larrakia land prior to the mural being started in order for the work to be a truly genuine representation of Milima’s strength and power as a young Danggalaba Kulumbirigin woman.
Milima has also generously gifted Travelodge Resort a beautiful poem to accompany the portrait.
DANGGALABA KULUMBIRIGIN WOMAN
I am Dedja Batcho.
I am her daughters and her sons: Victor, Lindy,
Bartrum, Keith, Yula, Lucy, Emily, Mary and
Rona.
I am Dedja Batcho’s grand-children, who
themselves are parents and grandparents of
many.
I am my nieces and nephews, and my children
and grandchildren to come.
You can tell who we are by our stance, smiles
and frown.
We are the Danggalaba Kulumbirigin.
The descendants of traditional custodians of
this country where we sit and bathe in the sun.
For more information on the Darwin Street Art Festival visit: https://www.darwinstreetartfestival.com.au/
Mike Parker-Brown is a UK-trained and qualified journalist and an award-winning travel communicator with more than 30 years experience.
Since 2002, Mike has worked as a freelance writer and PR consultant providing his services to major organisations in Australia and internationally in the tourism, aviation, hospitality, recruitment and export marketing sectors.
