• National Gallery of Australia (ACT): You don't have to travel to the outback to lose yourself in Aboriginal art. With the opening of eleven new galleries in 2010, the National Gallery in Canberra now has the largest, and best, collection of Australian Indigenous art in the world.
  • Umbarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre (NSW): This center in Wallaga Lake, near Narooma, offers boomerang- and spear-throwing instruction, painting with natural ochers, discussions on Aboriginal culture, and guided walking tours of Aboriginal sacred sites.
  • Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park (QLD): This multimillion-dollar center near Cairns showcases the history of the Tjapukai people -- with their Dreamtime creation history and their often-harrowing experiences since the white man arrived -- using film, superb theatrical work, and dance performance. Its Aboriginal art-and-crafts gift shop is one of the country's best.
  • Anangu Tours (NT): The Anangu are the owners of Uluru. Join them for walks around the Rock as you learn about the poisonous "snake men" who fought battles here, pick bush food off the trees, throw spears, visit rock paintings, and watch the sun set over the monolith. The Cultural Centre, near the base of the Rock, has displays about the Aboriginal Dreamtime.
  • Manyallaluk -- The Dreaming Place (NT): This Aboriginal community near Katherine welcomes visitors and teaches them to paint, weave, throw boomerangs, and perform other tasks of daily life -- a low-key day and the chance to chat one-on-one with Aboriginal people in their bush home.
  • Mangarrayi People (NT): Mike Keighley of Far Out Adventures (tel. 0427/152 288; www.farout.com.au) takes tours to beautiful Elsey Station (a ranch) near Katherine, where you visit with the children of the local Mangarrayi people. Sample bush tucker, learn a little bush medicine, and swim in a natural "spa-pool" in the Roper River.
  • Injalak Arts and Crafts Centre (NT): This nonprofit community arts center at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) in Arnhem Land draws its inspiration from Injalak Hill, a site rich in rock paintings. Watch the artists work; buy fine indigenous contemporary art, carvings, and weavings at their source; or take a guided tour and learn about the Dreaming stories of this amazing place.
  • Wardan Aboriginal Centre (WA): The Wardandi people share their knowledge of the Margaret River region -- and their culture -- with visitors. Take a guided stroll through the bush to discover the multiple applications of the local plants, then observe the use of traditional tools and fire-lighting.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.