The Message Stick Vehicle - Australian Aborginal Art Car - Symbol of Unity and Peace

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - Via Sacred Oz

The message stick vehicle art car is a 1961 Vietnam war era army off road ambulance driven by film maker Michael Butler and Samantha Martin and painted by over 200 Aboriginal Artists across Australia. It re-enacts a 50,000 year-old Aboriginal tradition of Message Sticks being passed on by young warriors from tribe to tribe as safe passage onto their lands. The Message Stick Art Car has been transformed and is now recognized as a totemic symbol of unity and peace for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people.

Michael Butler and Samantha Martin - Via Sacred Oz

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - Nelson Mandela Hand Print - Via Sacred Oz

This project has been endorsed by Mr Nelson Mandela and Hon Gough Whitlam. This program is the journey of the Message Stick and also of three young people who discover culture, bush medicine and the mystical powers of the traditional and modern Aboriginal way of life and survival. Welcome to Art Car Central.

The Message Stick 5 part documentary series on DVD is now available for SALE on Art Car Central.

This program is the journey of the Message Stick and also of three young people who discover culture, bush medicine and the mystical powers of the traditional and modern Aboriginal way of life and survival. 

By purchasing the DVD you are helping Michael and Samantha continue their journey to bring awareness to the world of the indigenous people of Australia, so come and journey with them.

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - with Aboriginal young - Via Sacred Oz

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - Aboriginal elder adding to the story  - Via Sacred Oz

The Message Stick Art Car - Side

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - Side

The Message Stick Vehicle Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

The Message Stick Art Car - Photos via a hazy moon

Aboriginal Toyota Art Car Basket made from Grass

This Australian Aborginal Toyota Art Car Basket was created using Tjanpi Grass by the Tjanpi Weavers Group headed by Artis Kantjupayi Benson using a lesser-known Aboriginal weaving art practice.

The Grass Toyota art car ended up being 16ft long by 13 feet wide and 5m long, and 8.2 ft high and was was commissioned by the World Expo in Hanover Germany.

While Kantjupayi sat on a chair leaning on her long walking stick, she oversaw the younger women drawing the shape of the vehicle with chalk on the concrete floor of the Blackstone hall. Minyerri grass, a wiry grass found in the sandy country approximately 20kms from Blackstone, was used in the construction. The grass was fashioned into coils and attached with jute twine and wire to welded steel framed panels covered with chicken mesh. The steel frames were made by Perth sculptor Claire Bailey, adhering to the women’s designs. All in all there were twenty artists involved over a month long period to realise the work and there was much celebration, hilarity and joy on its completion.
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