Marie de Nazareth
To Jesus, through Mary
This small cathedral was officially opened and blessed on August 19, 1962. The Shrine of the Aboriginal Madonna is a focal point for Aborigines, and a reminder that the message of Christianity is universal.
The Aboriginal Madonna
A striking feature of the Cathedral is a large oil painting depicting the Madonna and Child as Australian Aborigines. It is the work of a visiting European artist, Karel Kupka, of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris.
The painting, in oils, is 1.3 metres high and 1 metre wide. The figures are slightly larger than life-size. The Virgin Mary is depicted with the characteristic features and skin color of an aboriginal woman. Her face is a composite portrait from many sketches of different 'sitters,' done by the artist on various Territory missions.
Mary is garbed in white. The collar of her dress is red, embroidered in an aboriginal design. The Holy Child, also typical aboriginal features and dressed in a white smock, edged with aboriginal designs in red, is seated on the Mother's shoulder in the typical aboriginal style of carrying an infant. Behind the heads of Mother and Child are golden haloes, painted flatly in the style of a Byzantine icon, but edged also with perimeters of authentic tribal design in red.
Statue of the Wounded Angel
When the Japanese bombed Darwin in 1942, 'Zeros' strafed the old church repeatedly with machine gun fire. Shrapnel gouged rough gashes in the altar and pierced a statue behind the altar, from front to back. The figure, despite its wound, remained unshattered. The statue became known as the Wounded Angel and today it has an honored place in the Cathedral in an alcove off the south side.
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross, which adorn the nave of the Cathedral, were executed at Spilimbergo, Italy, in Venetian mosaic, according to drawings made by Miss Lola McCausland of Brisbane.
The Tree of Life
This painting in the Cathedral is by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Bauman. She was asked to paint a picture to go with her talk called 'Dadirri,' meaning silence or stillness. It was the time when the saltwater crocodiles lay their eggs in the mounds they have prepared along the river banks or in the swamps amongst the cane grass.
The painting is in three parts. The upper part depicts nature, which is our calendar. It tells us when to hunt for fruits, yams, animals, reptiles, fish or birds. By looking at certain flowers that are blossoming, or which way the wind is blowing, we know what to look for and gather.
The bottom of the painting is ourselves. The circles and lines mean that we have been washed with Jesus' blood coming from the paper bark chalice. The yam under the cross is Jesus' body. The cross means that Jesus died for our sins and rose to life again. At the top of the cross there are flames coming from fire sticks. Jesus is the light of the world.
The tree in the middle represents the Aboriginal people. Pope John Paul II said to them: "You are like a tree standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burned, but inside the tree the sap is still flowing and under the ground the roots are still strong." When the wet season sets in and the rain comes, the tree grows and blossoms. The storm winds come too. The white lines on each side of the tree are the water and wind representing the Holy Spirit.
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