Exploring Central Australia

102-005

This image is a composite of four digital photographs I took in sequence from left to right in order to capture a panoramic view from just one of the aspects looking upon Uluru. Unfortunately I did not have a camera tripod so the ground alignment is not perfect. Nevertheless I find the effect quite interesting.

This online resource is the product of a student at the University of Melbourne after completing the subject field trip to selected parts of central Australia. It is intended for the use of the Australian center to give current or prospective Students of this course an idea of what kind of experiences they might themselves draw from travel into these areas. All photography was taken by the author, and any opinions expressed represent those of the author personally, not the University nor the Australian Center.

* THE RED CENTRE *

* ALICE SPRINGS *

Originally known as the town of Stuart in honour of the explorer John McDouall Stuart who finally succeeded in 1862, the crossing of central Australia in order to make maps for white settlers to follow. Some ten years later the overland telegraph line was completed, and with this new lifeline of communication, came pastoralists willing to settle in the area. It was not until the 1930s that the name ‘Alice Springs’ was formally adopted,(1) as this was originally the name of the Telegraph station encampment which was located on the site of a permanent waterhole. Alice was the name of Charles Todd’s wife(2) It was he who directed the overland telegraph’s construction. Today, Alice Springs has a fixed population of around 30,000(3) individuals Though it becomes obvious while visiting the town tourism is now its major lifeblood. There are many things to do and see when in this area. You can also find many stores to purchase mementos of your stay in Alice. On a stroll through the central business district I happened to snap the picture below, which I think is a humorous indication of just how much of a tourist mecca this town strives to be.

The sign amused me, it is in the window of a tourist shop in the Alice Springs main strip- the Todd street mall. I am not sure if its tongue in cheek or serious! I decided not to crop my shadow out of the image, as I thought it added to the appeal.

Of course, there is a lot more to Alice than this surface level of nifty consumables. As we were in town on an academic journey, much of our time here was to be spent visiting various organisations that deal with the many serious issues affecting the towns Aboriginal populace. These included the Stolen generations Link-up, Land claims & health services units. While it is sad that these very specific and specialised services are necessary, it is heartening to witness the dedication of people we met who are working within them, and their willingness to attempt to address these problems and make good. There is a strong and impressive support network within the town that looks promising well into the future. However, there is much ground yet to be covered in order to readdress the balance of inequity between the indigenous and non-indigenous townsfolk of this area.

Appropriately, our first excursion to a place of interest in Alice was to the Old Telegraph station, where it all began. As you can see from this photo, there was no water in the riverbed on the day we visited.

The telegraph station has an interesting history, it was one of twelve repeater stations set up between Adelaide and Darwin. These stations were necessary to ensure that the signal strength was sufficiently boosted along the line, in order for it to make traveling the distance and maintaining the communication link possible. This outpost thus became the first established European settlement in the area. There is also a connection to the issue of stolen Aboriginal children to be found here, as at this site there was once a bungalow that existed to house children who had been removed from their biological parents custody. Today, while this shed no longer stands, a scaled down replica has been erected where it once stood, to depict the dorm.

This site is a fascinating historical place to visit in order to gain a perspective on a small slice of life from the past. Some of the buildings here have been restored to closely resemble the look they had back in the 1895-1905 period.(4) It gave me an impression of life being harder, but a lot more simple than society now. The scale of living areas were far smaller, but very focused on functionality, with very little wasted space. This contrasts sharply against the modern idea of the open plan minimalist living space so popular today. (I’ve been visiting a lot of new display houses lately!.)

Also by today’s standards, the communications equipment used here obviously will seem very primitive. It is hard for us to imagine having to decipher a message in Morse code, when nowadays the mobile telephone seems to be the lifestyle accessory of choice for anyone over twelve. Yet it is not hard to grasp just how imperative this ability to communicate quickly across the country was, and how much of a tremendous impact this would have had when it finally became a reality. It really made me appreciate the ease of voice communication that we have today, which I think so many of us now take for granted.

* STREHLOW REARCH CENTRE *

I found the Strehlow center to be a very difficult place to come to terms with. While there can be no doubt that the work of Strehlow was brilliant, I find the reality of this center in his honour quite bizarre and difficult to accept. Theodore George Henry Strehlow was a cultural Anthropologist who had managed to gain the trust of senior Aboriginal men at a time when they believed their ceremonial ways were dying out. As a result of this, they entrusted him as the custodian of many of their sacred objects, and had allowed him to record and document fully the rituals in which they were used.(5) This was all very well, but as time progressed, it became apparent that not all Aboriginal youths had lost interest in their old ways, or these items and Strehlow was asked to return some objects - this he refused.(6) At this point it seems to me that he was so wrapped up in his own self importance that he lost the ability to reason through his actions. Surely a man truly devoted to documenting the living culture of a race of people, could see the merit in actually helping to reinstall it back into its rightful place?

Strehlow's shortsighted failings in this regard are compounded by the fact that he allowed his extensive collection in its entirety to pass into his second wife's hands at the time of his death. The major problem here being that the objects collected by Strehlow were specifically connected to secret men's business, and were never allowed to be seen by anyone female. So as a women, Strehlow's widow was hardly the ideal candidate to inherit a collection that by rights she should never lay eyes upon. I find her actions in relation to disposing of the collection quite horrific, and culturally insensitive. Although she made a deal to sell the collection to the government who would then fund the Strehlow center to house the items she did not relinquish all of the objects. The center was only made aware of this later though, because at the time they believed they had in actual fact acquired a complete collection. Sadly though, I can only imagine economic greed incited the family to start selling off the remaining items to private collectors. In doing so, these objects are now lost to their rightful custodians access and may never be recovered. I find this situation extremely sad. I would feel so angry if I was a member of the tribe that had lost their relics in this manner, and thus I feel that it is extremely problematic that Strehlow’s wife is now part of the committee controlling who can be permitted access to view items in the remaining collection that is now housed in the Strehlow center climate controlled vaults.(7)

* STANDLEY CHASM *

Looking through the chasm.

Standley Chasm is some 50kms from Alice Springs, it was named in honor of Ida Standley, the first school teacher who worked in 1928-29 nearby at the Jay Creek.(8) The Chasm is the result of millions of years worth of floodwater erosion through the rich red sandstone rock. You can really feel a sense of the timelessness of the place when you stand at the base looking up at some 80 meters of rock cliff towering above you. I have taken some shots of just this in order to try and capture that sensation.

The walk to the Chasm follows the rocky creekbed through a gully that is surprisingly lush, fed by ground springs, growth varies from delicate ferns to tall gums.(9) I really enjoyed our visit to this site. It is a beautiful and inspiring place that offers plenty of trail climbing challenges. The only hindrance was the annoyingly great persistence of the Aussie blow-fly!

Image composite of the walking track to the Chasm.

This is the way I went to climb to the top, if you look carefully under the large gum tree you can see someone up ahead of me wearing a blue t-shirt.

Here are two of the American students in the class already standing at the top, not too much further for me to climb from here!

Finally, here is the magnificent view from the top that I took from where you can see the boys standing in the preceding shot.

These two shots were taken from directly behind me, with the later being of the valley in the ground below. The UFO in the top far right is of a fly that insisted on getting in the photo.

* WALLACE ROCK HOLE *

Here is an example of an Aboriginal rock art picture. These circles depict landmarks and waterhole's and were etched over many times during storytelling ceremonies by elders as a method of passing on knowledge to the other members of the tribe.

Here is an example of a grinding stone that was used to mill seeds finely enough to be mixed with water and baked to form an early type of bush bread.

The erosion patterns made in the rock face were really beautiful and interestingly textured.

A once highly important permanent source of water for desert dwelling Aboriginal tribes. Nowadays the community uses a diesel pump to draw up ground water supplies from deep underground.

* OORAMINNA BUSH CAMP *

Just on the other side of the bus is where we all slept in our swags out under the stars.

You can hardly tell from this shot, but this is actually Deep Well, a cattle station of some 500,000 acres that runs about 5,000 head of cattle. During dinner we were given a really interesting insight into this lifestyle by our host Bill Hayes, his family have been running the station for six generations.(10) The cattle have adapted well to desert living. they are entirely raised without hand feeding, just eating all the various kinds of native plants. They have adjusted to getting water out of their feed sources, only coming in to drink every three days. The Hayes have devised an ingenious method of stock control through careful positioning of water troughs (all water is pumped from an underground supplied that is millions of years old) that keeps the herds separate as the cattle will not move more than 8kms away from their closest trough. Bulls run with their own band of female cows all year round and bred and calve naturally without intervention. Also because of the constant strong sunlight the cattle are extremely healthy and disease free, thus the beef they produce is extremely high grade organic meat of export quality. Needless to say, our roast beef dinner here was delicious! (11)

This certainly does not look like your average farm!

Sunrise on the rock. I had to get up way, way too early to get this shot!

Being back at Uluru was like something of a reunion for me, as I was here almost ten years ago on a school trip. My experiences then were quite different. We did not know much of the true significance of this site, and we all climbed. I cannot deny that there is something of the urge to conquer in most of us I think. It was just the thing to do, see the big object, make it up to its very top. I did not choose to climb this time around. For one, I am strongly aware now of the desire for the indigenous custodians of uluru for you not to climb. I have done it before, and there was no reason to do it again. Plus, I think you really do get more out of a base walk. I am so glad I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to come back here, and do it over. I learned things this time around that I did not before. For instance, I now know I really love the way Uluru presents many different faces, and moods. Its colour changes are widely documented (as seen in the tourist must capture sunset montage). These changing perspectives though, are less commonly discussed. Uluru takes on many shapes as you walk around its base and look from different angles. It can sometimes change so dramatically that it almost seems like a different rock. I think the shape shown above is the most common conception of how the rock looks. I know I can remember a time when I once thought that the rock was this same blob like shape all the way around. How wrong I was! This ‘tourist’ version as I now have come to think of it, is probably the most boring aspect the rock has. However it has probably become so iconic precisely because of this simplicity, and the fact that it comes out pretty darn well on a postcard. I think of this side of Uluru as like the back of a sleeping giant lying in a fetal position. With all the interesting stuff nestled protectively within. Just take a good look at the following photographs to see what I mean. These illustrate just a few of the secret sides of the Rock, many more exist, but not all may be captured due to their sensitive nature as scared Aboriginal sites. After doing the base walk on this trip, I came to really get a strong sense of why this site is so special to the Aboriginal people.

This pathway leads into a recessed area where Aboriginal rock art still remains.

Here is the artwork I refer to above.

The feature in the left is referred to as ‘the brain’.

Image taken during the base walk.

Permanent waterhole. This would look awesome in a rain storm when all the water first starts cascading down.

This very curvaceous section of the rock base was etched by the hands of time over many thousands of years.

To me each different vantage point seems to photograph a different personality of the rock, and for some reason this one really makes me think ' grumpy old man'!

This shot reminds me of a crocodiles eye watchfully accessing its prey from just below the water’s surface.

Another image which displays some of the many crater details located in the rock face just around the corner from it most popular portrait angle.

Numerous trees shield this section of the base, it appears that fire has been burnt through here in the not too distant past, note the blackened tree trunks and the sooty rock surface behind them.

The obligatory sunset viewing montage.

Twilight descends gracefully over the dessert sky as Uluru sleeps silent save for the clicking of many camera shutters.

* THE OLGAS *

The Olga’s offer up quite a unique profile as they loom ahead unexpectedly from the flat desert horizon.

The Olga’s (or Kata Tjuta - their Aboriginal name meaning 'many heads') are something of a geological marvel. Standing at 545.4 meters above the ground they are almost 200 meters higher than Uluru. There are twenty eight main domes, and these consist of sedimentary rock, conglomerate, with iron oxide impurities (what cause the distinctive red colouring here and at Uluru). They were created when the mountain ranges pushed out of the earth eroded along perpendicular vertical joint places that acted as weakened zones, and therefore formed the deep narrow valley affect that characterises this rock mass. (12)

Traversing this section of the trail was probably about as close to the feeling of walking on Mars as will ever get in this lifetime!

REFERENCES

(1) http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/about_alice/history.asp (26/10/04)

(2) http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/todd.htm (25/10/04)

(3) Alice Springs News, Volume 11, issue 7. March 17, 2004. Page 2.

(4) Alec: A Living History of the Alice Springs Telegraph station (information booklet published the tourist center at the old station) (obtained 23/09/04)

(5) http://www.dcdsca.nt.gov.au/dcdsca/intranet.nsf/pages/StrehlowTGH (29/10/04)

(6) http://www.clc.org.au/OurCulture/LRN/strehlow5.asp

(7) Class discussion conducted by Scott Mitchell - current director @ the Strehlow centre (24/09/04)

(8) http://www.wilmap.com.au/alice_springs/standley_chasm.html (27/10/04)

(9) http://www.northaustraliaholidays.com/inbound/attractions/Standley_Chasm.htm (27/10/04)

(10) http://www.ooraminnahomestead.com.au/ (28/10/04)

(11) Class discussion conducted by Bill Hayes owner of Ooraminna (25/09/04)

(12) http://www.amonline.net.au/geoscience/earth/olgas.htm (29/10/04)