Uluru tourism and Aboriginal culture: The many moods of Uluru

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 7 years ago

Uluru tourism and Aboriginal culture: The many moods of Uluru

By Michael Gebicki
Updated
Icon: Uluru.

Icon: Uluru.

SPONSORED ARTICLE

Dating from the dawn of life on Earth, the vast rock at the red centre of Australia offers enduring mysteries for visitors, writes Michael Gebicki.

It's the suddenness of Uluru that assaults you, this snubby colossus heaving itself from the rippling sand waves of the Central Australian desert as abruptly as a breaching whale erupting from a still sea. There are no foothills that predict it, just a 350m-high hump of scorched red rock in your windscreen, in your face. The rock domes of Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) are just visible on the horizon, rearing higher and broader from the desert floor, but it is the sheer bulk of Uluru that captures the imagination. No wonder we know it simply as "the Rock".

Other worldly: Another view of Uluru.

Other worldly: Another view of Uluru.

White Australia took a long time to find Uluru. It was not until 1872 that a European, Ernest Giles, set eyes on it. The following year another explorer, William Gosse, became the first white man to stand on its summit. It was Gosse who named it Ayers Rock after Sir Henry Ayers, the then governor of South Australia.

Uluru is the most recognisable icon for outback Australia, a fitting metaphor for the grandeur, isolation and weird other worldliness of the island-continent that we call home. Close up, the physicality of Uluru is overwhelming. No longer is it a smooth dome but a scarred leviathan, etched with aeons of sun and rain. The monolith is composed of arkose, a type of sandstone, formed from compressed sediments laid down on the sea floor about 600 million years ago. There are no fossils – the rock was formed at the dawn of life on Earth and no organism had yet evolved beyond simple marine invertebrates. Uluru has a different mood for every time of day. Pink in the early morning, it becomes rust in the blazing light of midday. At sunset the iron-rich rock blushes molten red, as if a slow-burning fire is within. When it rains – rare in this part of the world – the water cascading from the rock can turn it purple or green.

The Anangu, the Aboriginal people of this region, have lived in the shadow of Uluru for perhaps 20,000 years. They are connected to the earth in a profound way, armed with the knowledge that enables them to find water in a parched landscape, where to dig for honey ants and witchetty grubs, how long ago a red kangaroo left its prints in the soft sand and when to expect rain from a cloudless sky. Ever since Gosse stood on its summit, climbing Uluru has been a rite of passage for visitors. Many still do, in violation of the law and culture of the Anangu, but there is no sanction. To a mind nourished on Christianity, Islam or Hinduism, and perhaps in a less benign climate, worship doesn't happen in the great outdoors but within the walls of a church, a mosque, a temple. Yet the spiritual dimension of Uluru is tangible. Stand with your back against it, close your eyes, and you can sense something elemental about this hunk of rock. This is a rock with power. For the Anangu, Uluru resonates with sacred meaning. They believe Uluru and every other feature of this landscape was created by giant ancestral beings who roamed the continent in the Dreamtime, sculpting the rocks, the rivers, the hills. Each of the caves, hollows and scars of Uluru bears witness to those ancestors. Streaks in the rock might be blood that seeped from a wound, a line of rocks could be footprints, a cave the sleeping place of a giant lizard. Only those Anangu who have been initiated will ever know the true meaning of the sites that are most sacred.

There are few places in Australia where you can immerse yourself in indigenous culture as thoroughly as at Uluru.

There are few places in Australia where you can immerse yourself in indigenous culture as thoroughly as at Uluru.

If you hear it from Anangu lips, the creation story of Uluru depends on what the teller knows and what they think you're entitled to know. To the visitor, much of the significance of Uluru is unfathomable. Even when the sites are identified and explained, you cannot experience Uluru through Anangu eyes. At Uluru, a Western understanding of the world hits a rock wall. This is a presence beyond the grasp of most who come here. The true meaning of Uluru is how little we understand. Accept that and you come away with hands full.

Advertisement

THROUGH INDIGENOUS EYES

There are few places in Australia where you can immerse yourself in indigenous culture as thoroughly as at Uluru. From guided walks around its base to bush tucker tours and storytelling sessions, a range of activities will help you delve deeper. A good introduction is a visit to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park's Cultural Centre, a startling building shaped like two winding snakes. Alternatively, try Ayers Rock Resort's program of free daily activities. A guided tour of the resort's new Wintjiri Arts + Museum showcases the indigenous understanding of the landscape and the creatures that inhabited it. Catch one of the daily dance performances to see how carefully the Anangu observed the wildlife, and how precisely they learnt to imitate their movements. On a free guided walk with an Indigenous guide, guests learn about the intricacies of an outback garden, including how the bush was used for food and medicinal purposes. Inspect the rock paintings hidden in caves at the base of Uluru, meet local artists at one of the art markets, or sign up for a lesson in dot painting. For a shift in perspective, join a stargazing tour, which explores the constellations from Aboriginal as well as Western perspectives. Ever seen the giant emu in the sky? Once it is pointed out to you, you won't understand how you could ever have missed it. - Ute Junker

On a free guided walk with an Indigenous guide, guests learn about the intricacies of an outback garden, including how the bush was used for food and medicinal purposes.

On a free guided walk with an Indigenous guide, guests learn about the intricacies of an outback garden, including how the bush was used for food and medicinal purposes.

For more information visit www.ayersrockresort.com.au

This article brought to you in association with Ayers Rock Resort and Tourism NT.

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading