I went on a Contiki to Uluru from New Years eve of 2019 to January 3rd 2020. I learned so much about the land I share with the Aboriginal people.
New Year’s day
Among the jam-packed activities, we hiked up King’s Canyon, my hobby in fact is to hike everywhere. Since I’m at university in Canberra I hike all the time on the weekends especially since it’s so accessible, with a great hiking trail right on my doorstep. King’s Canyon was a 6km hike in the 42 degrees heat, it was intense but rewarding. We did it safely with lots of breaks and we weren’t allowed to go unless we had two litres of water on us with electrolytes, so it was no Man vs Wild Bear Grylls style hike. Also, we did this nice and early in the morning before peak heat set in.
At a certain point of the hike, which is a after an initial steep climb, we came a across the ‘tree of no return’ and just as its named, after that point we could not turn back. Honestly, the gloomy name put me off, especially since the first part of the trip before the tree was hard and with no chance of turning back a little daunting but surprisingly after that, it got easier, I felt it was a bit of a mental test.
If I remember what our guide said correctly, Kings Canyon was formed by one heavier tectonic plate on top of a lighter and less dense tectonic plate resulting in a collapse and deep cavity in the ground. In the cavity there is plants, vegetation and water known as the ‘Garden of Eden’. How they get the water and greenery in the middle of dessert is caused by the sandstone soaking up the water from the rain like a sponge. (DISCLAIMER: my memory of what our guide said may have been hazy but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said, so I apologize in advance as I was tired. Please correct me in the comments!)
In the evening we went to Uluru rock for sunset and had dips and crackers with Champagne. It was a picturesque experience and it felt perfect, peaceful and even romantic. After that we went to the field of lights, where this British tourist Bruce Munro, who became an Australian, was inspired by his visit to Uluru to create a field of 50,000 solar powered spindle lights, covering 49,000 square meters of colours. It was stunning. A beautiful exhibition by the artist Bruce that is now running indefinitely.
January 2nd The best day and highlight!
We saw Uluru at sunrise, the valley of the winds and Walpa gorge, all absolutely stunning. I learned that the indigenous stories of these places are not known to anyone except for the Anangu people. They keep it a secret and pass it down orally amongst their own people and if you are trusted they will tell you, but you won’t be allowed to tell anyone else. The secretive nature of it goes to show how sacred their heritage and history is. We only know how it was created geologically speaking, which is something to do with the place being an inland body of water in the past which dried up forming sandstone.
In the afternoon we did an indigenous art workshop of traditional dot paintings, the Anangu lady spoke her indigenous tongue with a non-local man translating about indigenous art symbols. The lady spoke so quiet, she was whispering I couldn’t hear a thing, I realised she was shy. She showed us the traditional tools they used for hunting and gathering food, it was super cool. We proceeded to paint our own art it was the most relaxing thing I’ve done, I just wanted to paint all day to be honest. Afterwards the man explained the struggles of the Anangu such as employment due to racism and even named the company to be ‘Voyages’. He also explained to us that bargaining with them for their artwork is wrong because they are trying to support their families and many times, they sell a painting much less than what it’s worth. Although the man was making us aware about their plight, I didn’t like how desperate he made them sound, I think they are very dignified and friendly people who share so much with us, more than we could ever give them. They are also the smartest people I’ve met; they speak up to 5 or 6 indigenous languages that’s freaky and the knowledge of the land and all living things is that of someone with a Phd degree, no exaggeration.
Later in the afternoon we went on a Segway tour around Uluru, the lady who gave us the tour was brilliant and showed respect and passion for the indigenous stories and what Uluru rock means to the Anangu people. The Anangu viewed the rock with affection like a mother that provides life and rainwater is collected at the top and trickles down the sides of the rock and collects into waterholes. The Anangu are one with the land, in complete harmony. I also felt drawn to that loving effeminate relationship.
The peace is something we can all benefit from mentally, spiritually and physically. It’s all about ‘connection to country’, feeling it; they also ‘listen to country’, I absolutely love this concept, this is something that would connect to all Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous alike.
Unfortunately, when Europeans arrived the harmony was disrupted by early tourism which involved climbing to the top of the rock. The Anangu never climbed to the top, they never understood the need to conquer a piece of land, to them its like trampling on the ‘head’ of their home, someone stomping around on their roof and running amuck. The lady said she saw all sorts of crazy things before the ban set in on October 26, 2019, people climbing the steep sides in high heels, pushing prams and holding babies in slings, all very dangerous and unsafe. When they get to the top people go to the toilet, throw rubbish and change nappies and it gets flushed down into the waterholes. The waterholes did look murky from the pollution however our guide said its much improved due to the effort of the park ranges going to the top and giving the area a massive clean up after the ban set in. I believe the people who climbed to the top received the wrong education eventuating in disrespect. Nevertheless, the metal rail to climb up the rock has now been removed, all that’s left is just a whitish line in its place. The area is now at peace you can almost feel it. Also, beyond the area where the metal rail was, has always been closed off to the public, since it is very private and sensitive, holding a lot of meaning for the local indigenous people.
People also liked to take the red dirt or rocks as souvenirs which is called stealing! The land is sacred, and this would invoke a curse on the people who took the rocks and sand as souvenirs. Bad things have happened to them causing a lot of emails and letters apologising and posting the rocks back to Uluru. They are called ‘sorry rocks’ and the locals would restore the stolen pieces of land. One person if I remember correctly (could have the wrong number) stole something like 37kg of rock! Have no idea how someone can steal a rock that large. Something obviously bad happened and they sent it back with an apology, I honestly do not want to know the cost of the postage or what the misfortune that must have befallen them. There was also a tourist who carved their name on the tree. Seriously, tourists show some respect!
One story that explains the life and water provided by the rock is the story of a women whose nephew did something he shouldn’t be doing in another tribe’s area. The men drove the nephew out with spears. Before I go further, according to indigenous payback laws the person who spears the person who committed a wrong must also tend the wrongdoer’s wound and explain to the person their wrong while they’re at it. The man who speared the nephew in the thigh did not follow up on tending his wound, so the nephew showed up all bloody to his aunty who was outraged and went to the man who refused to tend his wound to follow up on his duty, he just laughed at the woman. The aunty left and covered herself in dirt from Uluru rock to protect herself from a snake poison she was going to inflict on the man. The aunty returned and asked the man once again but still he refused, so she hit him with all the force mustered from the strength of the earth and the poison, but when he still refused, she gave him the fatal blow. There are holes in the rock indicating where she sat and grabbed the dirt to cover herself.
Nearby in the same area there is the cave paintings which have been cleared and painted repeatedly, representing thousands of years of storytelling. The paintings have been shown to come from different time periods, ranging approximately from 200, 2000 to 20,000 years ago. No one really knows especially since a European archaeologist in the 18/19th century tried to date the painting but ended up erasing it when using a particular liquid, can’t remember exactly what the tour guide said. The cave paintings we can see now quite distinctly, is a figure of a camel, since they were introduced to Australia 200 years ago by European explorers. The northern territory and western Australia area in general, hot sandy dessert terrain like the middle east region so it was convenient to use camels as transportation. The explorers brought only two camels and after they used them and didn’t want them anymore, they let them out in the wild thinking they will die but they didn’t take into consideration the sex of the camels! They not only survived but thrived and now they are the only disease-free wild camels in the world, they are bigger and more muscular than Arabian camels. There are over a million camels now and now people are making an industry out of it by selling them to the Middle East where there are camel sports and eat camel meat which apparently is super lean and healthy. In Australia camel farms are just starting to become big business in producing camel’s milk. Camel milk is a super food, some of the most nutrient dense and healthy milk product out there. There was a whole episode on 60minutes about it.
However, the downside, the camel devastated the local eco system as they eat and regurgitate seeds repeatedly and don’t contribute to the local eco system since they don’t provide seeds for vegetation, so a lot of vegetation disappeared as a result.
Other sights on the rock includes the smiling mouth where children would hide around and play, filling the place with laughter and joy. There is another place where the spirits of the dead are, where their ancestors should not be disturbed. There is also an area where the trees were blackened from fire but the trees are not damaged because they had been back-burned to prevent mass fires from breaking out. The red sand/dirt on the ground is also rich in iron, in fact our guide got her magnet and put it to the ground and a large amount of sand attached itself, giving us an idea just how rich it is in iron. The guide said we are very lucky now because the early Europeans didn’t make the connection and realize they were sitting on a massive iron ore deposit, otherwise the place would have been destroyed for mining extraction.
Also, fun fact our guide was one of the people the Anangu trusted with their stories and she said she could not share those stories with us out of respect.
My conclusion on what I learned
Spirituality, religion and law are all intertwined and yet very peaceful and efficient like the payback laws. If this happened in the west where law and religion are intertwined, we would end up with radical extremist and general disfunction. Human rights tend to go backwards when religion and politics are combined. Yet with the indigenous people they can intertwine it and embrace the grey area of life and achieve peace and harmony. In my opinion, I think they were able to do this because they are one with nature and the land. Whereas, Europeans for some reason fell out of favour with their environment and just want to conquer it to make profit.
Palia! (Anangu word for hi, bye or thank you, depending on context)