Dogs of Darwin

I think this is one of my all-time favourite pieces of street art in Darwin. Every dog — sorry, dingo — is a real individual. The dingo-dude at the top right has serious street cred. I love the hooowling connections to the mooooon, the stylised but completely recognisable landscape and the way that the light of the moon is reflected in the water.

A few buildings away is another piece of dog art. Well, maybe dog, cat, mouse and bird art.

There's a horse on the side wall, behind the recycling bin. You'll have to take my word for it that it's a horse. (Although it might be a donkey.) It's standing on its front legs to push the lid closed. If there's enough demand from readers, I can go back, push the bin out the way and take a photo of the front end of the animal.

But enough of equines and back to canines. Darwin has its fair share of real ones. Living in the CBD, as we do, we see plenty of small dogs being walked from their (presumably) apartment abodes. There are working dogs, too, though, like this lovely little black and tan kelpie waiting for its owner.

I find people very friendly in Darwin. These gentlemen were delighted to have a chat about their dogs — and to have their dogs' pictures taken.

Then we have Bob Territory, the border collie, who has his own student ID card. (Not really.) Bob features on the (our) NT Department of Education website to illustrate what a student ID card looks like. Now this is a student that any teacher would want in their classroom!

The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards is an art exhibition currently at the MAGNT. I like the exhibition enormously; I find it interesting that many Indigenous artists are including the whole palette of colour rather than only the traditional ochres, whites and blacks. One of my favourite pieces of 3D art is this lady and her dogs. Every one of those dogs — Bluey, Cinder, Trinkle and Funny Face — is a complete individual. Look at Trinkle (I'm guessing it's him) peeping round her waist. I bet her doggos are like that in real life too.

Finally there's Banjo, the staffy that bit back. Romping through the waves at Casuarina Beach, Banjo was startled when a croc bit his bottom. But Banjo was having none of this. Being Territory tough, he gave as good as he got. The story doesn't specify whether he bit the crocodile's bottom or some other part of its anatomy, but the shocked croc released Banjo who escaped with a few lacerations. (I love the owner's laconic comment that Banjo will 'pick up a lot of girls with those scars'.) The NT News is performing a public service now by reporting regularly on Banjo's recovery. I think we're all pretty proud that ol' Banjo took on a croc and won.