Seize opportunities to see petroglyph (engravings) and pictograph (pigment and ochres) outdoor galleries, depicting multiple worlds and epochs right up to modern times – creation stories and Dreamtime spirits, now-extinct animals and methods for hunting them, ceremony, and contact art illustrating European settlers. Styles vary across regions, from the X-ray representation of animals in Kakadu to the eerie Wanjina weather harbinger/gods of the Kimberley. Even today, descendants of generations of rock artists re-paint thousands-year old images to pay respect to ancestors and spirits inhabiting their lands, making this art form as contemporary in its practice as it is ancient in its origins.

Seven rock art sites in Australia hold National Heritage List status; some are of world renown for their size, scope, age or quality. Access them in far-flung remote sites, and also find amazing galleries not far outside major cities. You’ll never forget experiencing a rock art tour led, in many cases, by a descendant of original artists. Your guide will prompt you to attend to appropriate Indigenous protocols as you experience such sites, many of which are sacred.

Australia’s urban cultural calendars grow richer by the year with a panoply of Indigenous-curated arts fairs. Beyond the cities’ edges, cultural festivals on Country offer adventurous visitors a total immersion into land, spirituality, ceremony, dance, music, food and more.

Find yourself in Darwin during early August, when the Telstra NATSIAA awards coincide with the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and the National Indigenous Fashion awards. You can bookend these with Arnhem Land’s Garma festival on Yolngu Country to the east, then head southeast to Cairns International Arts Fair, known as the best showcase for Torres Strait Islanders art.

September features Alice Springs’ renowned Desert Mob exhibition, followed in October by Adelaide’s Tarnanthi festival. Interacting with and hearing from award-winning elder artists as well as younger emerging talents, you can develop your own personal tastes, and make purchases directly from the artists in support of their community cooperatives.

Don’t overlook international blockbuster events with significant Indigenous programming including the Sydney Biennale and annual Sydney Festival, Melbourne’s International Arts Festival, and Canberra’s National Indigenous Arts Triennial.

Today dozens of arts centers, most located remotely (hundreds of kilometres from major cities) on First Nations lands, act as community hubs, empowering Indigenous peoples to live on and care for Country; to express and preserve culture through art creation; to earn income and build community infrastructure. A select few arts centers can be visited on day trips out of key cities. Permits to enter native lands are often required.

Notably, with 80% of Australia’s First Nations peoples living in metropolitan and regional centers, encounters with city-based artists pushing boundaries with diverse media such as glass, photography, sculpture, video, screenprinting, etc. are widely available through city-based ‘localling’ tours.

In urban settings, Indigenous-run arts cooperatives have long played community-centric roles as studios, collaborative spaces, exhibition and civic event gathering venues. When visiting these venues, drop all assumptions of what you imagine an Indigenous person looks or sounds like. First Nations-identifying artists are as diverse as the multicultural population of Australia itself, true jewels of knowledge and creative cultural expression hiding in plain sight, yet continually challenging historical narratives as they point the way to a more unified and reconciled future for all Australians.

Each Indigenous individual is connected to precise places on Country – the locations of their conception or birth – or events that impacted their ancestral community, or a Dreaming story of how the land features were created and shaped.

For generations First Nations peoples relied solely on the land for survival and expression of culture and spirituality, developing a land-care ethos that may be the oldest system of sustainability on Earth. Indeed, all Aboriginal material culture items and pre-contact expressions of visual art were derived from the land itself – sand paintings, rock engravings, ochred body painting for ceremony, bark shields and spears, hollow-log coffins, pandanus-woven utility items, shell jewelry. These practices and traditions continue today, in harmony with the regenerative nature of the land and the six seasons by which many First Nations peoples structure their lives and activities.

In many National Parks and sites now returned to and co-managed by Traditional Owners, you will encounter Indigenous rangers doubling as guides. Spend as much time as you can with these knowledge-keepers, entrusted by their own people and their government with conserving these environments and sacred sites. No one else is possessed of their rare combination of ancient, locally specific knowledge, modern science, and natural storytelling skills in sharing culture.

Reliable outlets for ethical purchasing include community arts centers, reputable arts fairs and festivals, artists’ studios/cooperative spaces, commercial galleries, and certain marketplaces attached to Indigenous-managed lands and sites.

Not only can Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art pieces be highly priced & valued, more importantly, these works are tangible repositories of culture, clan knowledge and traditions, imbued with spirituality of the artist’s Country. Thus for both purchaser and artist, it is vitally important that communication, transparency and fairness guide a transaction, which from the standpoint of the artist, establishes a lasting connection between the two parties.

When considering purchasing a work of art, or authenticated objects intended as souvenirs, remember that ethical purchasing is an intentional act of respect for the world’s oldest continuing culture. It assures you of providing the most direct support possible to the artists and their community and contributes to the long-term sustainability of this uniquely Australian heritage and treasure.

The Indigenous Art Code, established in 2009 between hundreds of art dealers and artists, is the ‘gold standard’ for ethical purchasing. It is a set of rules and guidelines that art dealers commit to follow to ensure fair, honest and respectful treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, thus protecting them from exploitation. Work with a member to evaluate and purchase art / artefacts, and you’ll know you’ve bought ethically.

Remember: “Fake Art Harms Culture”. In your travels, become aware of and avoid outlets vending commercially produced goods that are made with non-traditional materials and feature inauthentic or culturally inappropriate designs. Where in doubt, ask questions about the provenance and documentation of items, the connection to the artist, and how the artist gets paid.