It’s billed as an event 3.5 billion years in the making, so they’ve had plenty of time to rehearse for the one-night show marking Darwin’s bicentenary which takes place at 7.30pm on 1 July in Civic Park.

Origins brings together various groups on the Darwin arts scene which are also celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2009: Darwin Theatre Company (50 years), Corrugated Iron Youth Arts (25 years), Darwin Chorale (25 years) and Darwin Symphony Orchestra (20 years).

The presentation is a unique exploration of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through orchestral music, circus, bells, choral work, performance and multimedia. Entrance is free.

The computer-controlled bells, Darwin City Council’s contribution to the bicentenary celebrations, have recently been installed near the Civic Centre.

They have been arranged in a semi-circle around a bust of Charles Darwin looking not as a bearded elderly gentleman, but as he would have done round about the time Port Darwin was named for him.

The DSO will, by the way, be giving a world premiere performance of a piece of music specially commissioned by CDU.

For further information, call 8948 3200 or go to www.dso.org.au or www.corrugatediron.org.au.