In the heart of the Australian desert rises a sandstone monolith that changes colour with the light of day, from the grey of dawn to the deep red of sunset. For Europeans it was long Ayers Rock, the name the explorer William Gosse gave it in 1873 in honour of a South Australian politician. For its traditional custodians, the Anangu, it has always been Uluru: not a natural attraction but a living place, crossed by the Tjukurpa.
Who the Anangu are
The name Anangu refers to the Aboriginal peoples of this part of the Western Desert, who speak mainly Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. Many live in the Mutitjulu community at the foot of the monolith. For them Uluru and the nearby cluster of domes of Kata Tjuta cannot be separated from ancestral law: every cave, stain, crack and pool in the rock tells an episode of the Tjukurpa.
Stories carved in the rock
Some stories are shared publicly by the Anangu precisely to help visitors understand. Among them:
- Kuniya and Liru. Kuniya, a python woman, clashes at the Mutitjulu waterhole with Liru, a venomous snake who had killed her nephew. The marks of the fight are still visible on the rock face: Liru's wounds, Kuniya's tracks, her dance of anger and grief.
- The Mala people. The Mala ancestors, rufous hare-wallabies, gathered at Uluru to hold a ceremony. Invited elsewhere, they refused, and from that refusal a malevolent being was created which attacked them. The story explains specific places on the rock and teaches the importance of ceremonial obligations.
- Lungkata. A blue-tongue lizard man who takes an emu hunted by others and lies to keep it. His story shows the consequences of greed and deceit.
These stories also have a restricted dimension that the Anangu do not share. Some areas of the rock are linked to men's or women's ceremonies and should be neither visited nor photographed.
The 1985 handback
During the twentieth century the area became a national park and a tourist destination, while the Anangu lost control of their lands. After a long campaign, on 26 October 1985 the Australian government formally returned ownership of the park to the Anangu, who at the same time leased it to the federal parks agency for ninety-nine years. Since then the park has been jointly managed by a board with an Anangu majority and the government administration.
The park was later inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, first for its natural values and then also as a cultural landscape, a recognition that underlines the unity between the rock and the culture that looks after it.
The climb and its closure
For decades thousands of tourists climbed to the top of Uluru along a route fitted with a chain. The Anangu had long asked people not to: the path coincides with the ancestral route of the Mala men and is a place of great ceremonial importance. The climb was also dangerous and several people lost their lives on it, something the custodians felt as both a grief and a responsibility.
The board of management decided on a permanent closure, which took effect on 26 October 2019, the anniversary of the handback. For many Anangu it was a long-awaited moment of recognition.
Visiting Uluru with respect
Those who travel to Uluru today can come to know the place deeply by following a few simple rules the custodians state clearly:
- Walk the base trails, which circle the rock and pass by pools, caves and rock paintings.
- Respect the signs forbidding photography in some areas: these are sensitive sites linked to restricted ceremonies.
- Listen to the explanations at the cultural centre and, where possible, those of Anangu guides.
- Do not take sand or stones: even a small fragment is part of country and of the Tjukurpa.
A lesson about the sacred
The story of Uluru teaches something that reaches beyond Australia. A place can be seen as a natural spectacle by some and as a sanctuary by others. Respecting the second view takes nothing away from the beauty of the landscape: it makes it richer, because the rock stops being an object and becomes a story. Studio Esoterico Cornelio sees in this one of the most authentic meanings of the word "sacred": that which is approached with attention, restraint and permission.
In short
- Uluru is the Anangu name of the monolith once known as Ayers Rock.
- Every mark on the rock is tied to Tjukurpa stories, such as that of Kuniya and Liru.
- On 26 October 1985 ownership of the park was returned to the Anangu.
- The climb, which follows an ancestral route, was closed on 26 October 2019.
- Visiting with respect means walking the base trails and following the custodians' guidance.
