Darling Downs South West
The Darling Downs South West region is an area on the western slope of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland and covers an impressive 480,000km2 of land.
Toowoomba is the largest city in the region. Towns like Stanthorpe, Chinchilla, Dalby, Warwick, Kingaroy, Murgon, Oakey, Roma, Charleville and Goondiwindi are part of this diverse region, with lots of smaller towns branching off in all directions from these towns.
Click the map to explore your region
Join the QATA
Darling Downs Cluster Facebook Group.
Click here to join the Darling Downs South West Community Chat.
Find colleagues in your local area, catch up, plan events, build a community of practice.
Need to tell your colleagues about QATA? Click on the flyer to download and distribute.
We’ll add details below when there are
events in your cluster
Darling Downs Cluster Term 1 Networking Event
THURSDAY| February 15 2024
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Come join us for an exhibition talk by Brodie Taylor from UniSQ about the current exhibition and how schools/teachers can connect with the Gallery.
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
8 January – 16 February 2024
Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Furari Flores is a multisensory exhibition celebrating the wonder of plants. Incorporating sight, smell, hearing, and tactility, this project creates an immersive, sensory experience. Furari Flores grew out of Cara-Ann Simpson’s experience with extreme illness and a life-changing diagnosis. The Latin title translates to ‘stealing flowers’, which is a literal and metaphorical interpretation of the project and her story. It also references the continued use of a ‘dead’ language in medical and botanical taxonomies. This series is Simpson’s journey of living with disability, explored as a relationship with plants and places, and a rediscovery of identity. Broadly, this exhibit is an open conversation about connections through sensory immersion, active observation, and deep listening.
https://www.unisq.edu.au/about-unisq/locations/toowoomba/art-gallery/current-exhibit/furari-flores
UniSQ B Block Gallery Ground floor of B Block, UniSQ, West Street, Darling Heights, Toowoomba QLD 4350
Free parking near B block
For more information contact: Chrissy Dwyer [email protected]
DARLING DOWNS SOUTH WEST REGION ART TEACHERS
TERM 2 NETWORKING MEETING
View the First Nations Exhibitions @ Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
Read about the meeting below.
WEDNESDAY 7 June 4:00-5:00pm
DARLING DOWNS SOUTH WEST REGION ART TEACHERS
TERM 1 NETWORKING MEETING
A chance to gather, network and share.
TOOWOOMBA STATE HIGH SCHOOL (Mt Lofty)
THURSDAY 9 FEB 4:00-5:30pm
The QATA Darling Downs cluster met at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery (TRAG) to have a private curator talk by Jayson Althofer about the two fantastic exhibitions on show; Guns, spears & spectres (27 May – 20 August) and The Heartbeats of a Shell Necklace (27 May – 20 August). I contacted Tiffany Shafran, Coordinator Exhibitions and Public Programs, after QATACON22 about our groups desire to connect with artworks in the collection that are local and can provide first nations perspectives which aligns to the new Australian Curriculum v9. Jayson was deeply knowledgeable and insightful about the history relating to Toowoomba’s (dark) past. These exhibitions are excellent if you want to learn more about Toowoomba’s local history with First Nations people, particularly the representations of Meewah, as well as a national perspective, such as the repatriation of shell necklaces to Tasmania. Not to mention the notable works on show by Gordon Bennett, Brian Robinson and our own home grown Christian Thompson.
More information about the exhibitions:
Exhibition | Guns, Spears & Spectres
Exhibition | The Heartbeats of a Shell Necklace: First Nations Adornment (tr.qld.gov.au)
Get something started…
Would you like to organise an event in your region?
QATA can help with registrations, promotion, links for online meetings and funding.
Plus member events organised by QATA are covered by our Public Liability insurance.
The links above will open Google Forms. These may not be accessible in all schools so you may need to open them at home. Alternatively contact us about your ideas and we can help you get started.
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