Tandanya in Grenfell Street, Adelaide city, as Australia's oldest institute honouring Aboriginal culture

Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Grenfell Street, Adelaide city, preserved ancient traditional design in all forms.

Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Grenfell Street, Adelaide city, was the oldest Aboriginal-owned and -run cultural centre in Australia.

Started in 1989 in the former Adelaide Electric Supply Company building, owned by the Aboriginal Lands Trust and the South Australian government, the Tandanya institute specialised in promoting Indigenous images, music and storytelling.

The institute’s name was derived from the Kaurna (pronounced “Garna”) Aboriginal people's name for the Adelaide Plains area, meaning “place of the red kangaroo”. Tandanya offered an insight into the culture of the Kaurna people, whose territory extended south to Cape Jervis and north to Port Wakefield.

The institute had several gallery spaces, with multiple exhibitions, and a shop (with café) selling and showing authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander images, craft, books, clothing, fabric, music and yidakis (didgeridoos).

Tandanya’s vibrancy came from offering visitors a chance to meet Aboriginal people. Its 147-seat auditorium presented occasional theatre, dance and film events. Free guided (including pre-booked group) tours taught Aboriginal and Torres Strait culture and history. There were other cultural presentations and yikadi or dance performances.

Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute closed in 2023 over ageing infrastructure and staffing issues. In 2024, the state government announced it would contribute $780,000 towards building improvements with the aim of reopening it from January 2025.  The government also contributed to operating the institute.