Public art within the new world-class Darwin City Waterfront will have a 24 hour impact and is intended to reach a broad audience of residents, tourists and local visitors. It will enhance the fabric of the landscape with poignant references to the past, present and the future. For artists it will mean opportunities to present skills, concepts and thoughts for inclusion into the precinct and the opportunity to participate in a significant contemporary art award.

The challenge is not to develop a formulaic city waterfront, a style that is already prevalent around Australia, but rather to stamp this development with the quality that will serve to distinguish Darwin in a global context, to set it apart, exhibiting the unique characteristics of Darwin by drawing on its rich cultural past, its dynamic present, and its promising future. ¹

Enjoyment will come from Territorians being able to swim year round by the sea. Families and friends will be able to picnic in the parks, walk the promenades around the 2 km of foreshore, and enjoy the markets. People will be able to enjoy coffee or a meal and walk through the heritage trails. You will be able to enjoy the public art. The precinct will be a place for special celebrations, be they indoors in the convention centre or outdoors.

This will be a place where visitors and locals alike gain a sense of the city’s past and its future aspirations, through permanent and temporary art works by local and international artists. Brought to life with a unique and constantly changing program of static and performing contemporary cultural activity, Darwin’s Waterfront is truly the Gateway to the city and the Territory’s Top End.

¹ Chief Minister’s statement to Parliament on the Darwin City Waterfront 23rd August 2005 - Hansard