The famous monolithe (Ayers Rock) A huge stone in the middle of the desert, this austere and arid environment. Not quite… it is rather a monolith 3.6km long, 348m high and9km !!! in diameter!!!! And we can only see the surface, so imagine the immensity of this monolith’s base.

First Europeen to have seen Ayers Rock was the topographer Ernest Giles in 1871.
One year after, the first climbing of the monolith was concluded by the explorer William Gosse, who named it Ayers Rock, of the name of a politician of the Autralie-Southerner

Pukulpa Pitjama Ananguku Ngurakutu Pukul Ngalya Ngalya Yanama Ananguku Ngurakutu.

 

 

We want tourist to learn about our place, to listen to us Anangu, not just to look at the sunset and climb on the puli (Uluru). Now we are thinking we will build a Cultural centre tu teach the minga (tourists) better. We will teach them about the minga (tourists) better. We teach them about the Tjukurpa, teach them inma (dancing), show them how we make punu (woodcarving). We will teach them about joint management. We are always saying Pukulpa Pitjama Ananguku Ngurakutu-Welcome to Aboriginal land. (Tjamiwa).    The Cultural Centre provides visitors with a variety of information about Anangu culture. Here you will experience some rich Anangu traditions, including arts and crafts and other aspects that ma hat make up Anangu life today. It will also show you how Anangu work with ANCA to manage Uluru-Kata Tjuta natiinal Park. The desing of the Cultural Centre and its content is the result of a close collaboration between Anangu, ANCA and the architectural and display consultants. "This is Aboriginal land and you are welcome. Look around and learn, in order to understand Aboriginal people and also understand that Aboriginal culture is strong and alive." (Nellie Patterson).

Tjukurpa  Tjukurpa is the foundation of Anangu culture. It provides the rules for behaviour and for living together. It is the Law for caring for one another and for the land that supports people's existence. Tjukurpa refers to the time of creation as well as the present time. Tjukurpa is the relatonship between people, plants, animals and the phsical features of the land. Knowledge of how these relationships came to be, what they mean and how they must be maintained, is explained in the Tjukurpa. Tjukurpa has been translated as "Dreaming" or"Dreamtime, this is inadequate, as Tjukurpa does not refer to dreaming in a conventional western sense; it is not unreal or imaginary. Tjukurpa is the traditional Law that expains existence and guides daily life. Tjukurpa is existence itself, in the past, present and future. Tjukurpa provides answers to important questions such as the creation of the world and how people and all livings things fit into the total picture of life. It is the basis of the laws that sustain nature and all beings. "In the old days Anangu used this cave for shelter in the same way as the Mala did. That's the water there they used. This is the same continuous culture that we have now. We can't just throw it away or leave it. This is our culture" (Barbara Tjikatu). The Tjukurpa is all around us in the landscape itself. When Anangu look at the land, and all the features and living things upon it, there is visible evidence that the ancestral beings still exist. Uluru, and its many different features, continue to tell about the Tjukurpa. In the beginning the world was unformed and featureless. Ancestral beings emerged from this void and journeyed widely, creating all living species and the features of the desert.

 Information Office, Uluru-Kata Cultural Centre PO. Box 119, Yulara. NT 0872 - Ph:(08) 8956 3138.
   I thank the Office which has to give Infos to me on the history of Uluru and the translation. Patrice Terebus