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 at 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 fieldtrip to Alice Springs & Uluru. 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 or the Australian Center.
X THE RED CENTRE X
The first thing that strikes you when you arrive in central Australia are just how vibrant the colours are. Melbourne seems drab by comparison, peppered with many shades of gray. Here, the crystal blue sky is intensified by the rich red ochre of the earth. Even the quality of the pure sunlight that beats down relentlessly in this semi arid zone makes one feel more alive, and in touch with ones own existence. I hope you can feel some of this, just through looking at the images I have captured. If it is a gray day outside, let a little of this warmth envelop you, and take you on an armchair virtual tour of my journey.
X ALICE SPRINGS X
Originally known as the town of Stuart in honor 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, 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 -(HYPERLINK: http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/todd.htm) It was he who directed the overland telegraph’s construction. Today, Alice Springs has a permanent population of around 30,000 individuals Though it becomes obvious while visiting the town, tourism is now its lifeblood.
This sign amused me, its of an obvious tourist shop in the Alice Springs main strip- the Todd street mall. I decided not to crop my shadow out of the image, as I think it adds to the appeal.
This is a view out over Alice Springs as the sun begins to set, taken from the top of the walking track situated at Olive Pink Botanic gardens.
Appropriately, our first excursion in Alice was to the Old Telegraph station. As you can see, 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 travelling 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 the Stolen generation of Aboriginal children, as the site where a bungalow once existed to house children removed from their biological parents. Today, while this no longer stands, a miniaturised replica has been erected where it once stood that depicts this dorm.
View from the courtyard in between the kitchen and school room that looks out to where the bungalow stood.
Close up perspective of the Bungalow dormitory replica model .
This site is a fascinating place to visit in order to gain a perspective on a small slice of life in the past. Some of the buildings here have been restored to closely resemble the look they had back in the 1895-1905 period. It gave me an impression of life being harder, but much more simpler 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 (I’ve been visiting a lot of new display houses lately).
A display in the communications building of some of the types of Morse code devices used.
Also by today’s standards, the communications equipment used here seems 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 much of a tremendous impact this would have had when it finally became a reality. It really made me appreciate the ease of communication that we have today, which I think so many of us now take for granted.
X STREHLOW RESEARCH CENTRE X
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X STANDLEY CHASM X
Looking through the chasm.
Standley Chasm is some 50kms from Alice Springs, it was named in honour of Ida Standley, the first school teacher who worked in 1928-29 nearby at the Jay Creek. The Chasm is the result of millions of years worth of floodwater erosion through the rich red sandstone rock. You really feel a sense of timelessness to stand at the base looking up at some 80 metres of rock cliff towering above you. I have taken some shots of this to try and capture that sensation.
The walk to the Chasm follows the rocky creekbed through a gully that is surprisingly lush, fed by springs, growth varies from delicate ferns to tall gums. 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 great persistence of the Aussie blow-fly!
Image composite of the walking track to the Chasm.
Once you reached the main section of the Chasm, which was an easy fairly flat terrain walk, it was optional to continue on further and climb the bank to the top of some of the peaks. I chose to do this, and was richly rewarded for my hard efforts by the view at the top. It was a fairly difficult climb as the slope is covered with loose stone and soil and tended to move under ones footing. It was also getting pretty hot by midday, so I would liken this climb to a session on the stairmaster while in a sauna at the gym!
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.
X ULURU X
Sunrise on the rock. I had to get up way, way too early to get this shot!
I really love the way Uluru presents many different faces, and moods. It has colour moods which are commonly known off (as seen in the tourist must-document sunset changes) but also the many shapes it takes on as you walk around and view from different angles. It almost seems like a different rock. I think the shape above is the most common conception of how the rock looks. I know I can remember a time when I once thought that it 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 become so iconic probably 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. 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.
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 take during the base walk.
The ridges worn into the rock walls really reminds me of an elephant’s skin, they really give you a sense of how much time has passed by this monumental rock structure..
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 suggests a 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 Olga’s offer up quite a unique profile as they loom ahead unexpectedly from the flat desert horizon. 
The Olga’s are something of a geological marvel.
The sky was ominous on the day we visited the Olga’s, and we got to experience a very small amount of rain which is fairly rare outside of the main wet season.
There was currently a very lush valley between two Olga mounds where the walking track is.
This shot was taken from the platform at the end of the walking track, and was the highest vantage point from which to look back out over the gully.
Traversing this section of the trail was probably about as close to the feeling of walking on Mars as I will ever get in this lifetime!
I propose to structure my research essay as primarily a travel writing piece, however I wish to set this experience firmly within the bounds of the Exploring central Australia course itself as the viewpoint. In doing so I intend to create a website including personal photography taken during the trip to act as visual representations, and format the writing style into diarised sequences. To fufill the research capacity of the essay I will draw from a variety of primary and secondary resourcs in order to substantiate any factual data or reasoning deductions I conclude from reflecting on my experiences. I will focus on some areas of the excursion that were of greater personal significance to myself in a more expansive manner, and engage in a meaningful dialogue regarding my opinions; these areas will include things like the Old Telegraph station, tourism centered around Uluru, and the Strelhow research center. I am hoping in short, to create a body of online reference material regarding this fieldtrip component of the course that the Australian center can refer future prospective or enrolled students to in order to give an insight into the possibilities of this study mode, and to give a reference point from which they can begin to develop their own personal perspectives of the Northern territory experience available in this unit. I believe this is particularly relevant owing to the high proportion of overseas exchange student interest in the course. I wish to offer them an Australian perspective of the red center cultural experience which may assist these students somewhat in framing their own concepts prior to also taking this journey.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources:
Personal photography taken 23/09/04-28/09/04
Personal journal observations during the 6 day field trip to NT
Information gathered through interactive group discussions with speakers
CASG&FAC Brochure
Secondary Sources:
Hill, B. (1995) The Rock: Travelling to Uluru. Allen & Unwin: Sydney.
Course Reading pack 2004 selections
http://www.abc.net.au/central/stories/s695641.htm http://www.dcdsca.nt.gov.au/dcdsca/intranet.nsf/pages/StrehlowResearchCentre http://www.clc.org.au/OurCulture/LRN/strehlow5.asp http://www.outbackretreat.com.au/cental.htm http://www.nt.gov.au/ipe/conmgt/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewPark&page=1&menu=ParkRes&pid=48