Renaut Twingo Balarinji 2
Renaut Twingo Balarinji 5
Renaut Twingo Balarinji 1
Renaut Twingo Balarinji 3
Renaut Twingo Balarinji 4
Carsales Staff14 Dec 2016
NEWS

National Museum of Australia acquires Twingo 'Balarinji'

First two-wheel drive to reach the Cape York becomes national treasure

The National Museum of Australia in Canberra has acquired the first two-wheel drive to reach the northernmost tip of Australia, the Cape York Peninsula.

Arriving in Sydney on June 14, 1994 shortly after its release, the diminutive left-hand drive Renault Twingo embarked on an epic 25,000km outback road trip at the hands of French journalist Jean Dulon, who was inspired by the car's advertising slogan.

"The Renault ad at the time was all about inventing a lifestyle to match the Twingo's character," he said.

"I took the slogan word for word and asked Renault if I could invent an adventure for the Twingo. I wanted to create an encounter between something infinitely small like the Twingo and something infinitely big like Australia.”

Renaut Twingo Balarinji 3

After travelling 8000km on unsealed roads and tracks over two months without GPS or roadside assistance — including Cape York and the Kimberleys via the Gunbarrel Highway — the car was later immortalised in an Aboriginal painting by two famous Australian artists.

The Aboriginal artwork painted on his one-of-a-kind Twingo was the brainchild of John Moriarty — founder of the leading Australian designer clothing company Balarinji and its design studio, which also painted the Qantas planes — and celebrated airbrush artist Frank Lee.

Renaut Twingo Balarinji 1

Dulon made a film about his trip using 35 hours of footage shot here and the unique Twingo was featured in the mainstream media and on TV. The Aboriginal-inspired car even appeared in a nationwide Renault ad campaign in 1985 with the tagline: ‘The TWINGO is like a boomerang. No matter how far you send it, it keeps on coming back’.

After returning to France, Dulon continued to relive his Aussie outback adventure in the Twingo, which was displayed in the Renault Museum and went on to clock up 250,000km before recently being acquired by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

Share this article
Written byCarsales Staff
See all articles
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Download the carsales app
    AppStoreDownloadGooglePlayDownload
    App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
    © CAR Group Ltd 1999-2024
    In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.