Australia: Reclaiming the Rock - BBC News

[Music] it's considered one of the great natural wonders of the world and is a deeply sacred place for Australia's indigenous and a new people one of the oldest civilizations on earth this means everything to our lone LaRue also known as Ayers Rock a sandstone monolith in the heart of Northern Territory's red centre dates back more than 500 million years tourists from all over the world visit the site every year for decades there's been a better route over the controversial practice of climbing the rock yes I do and I understand that but going to do it anyway yeah there are signs here at the base of the climb clearly saying please don't climb it's against traditional law translated into six languages but still every day we've been here there's been a steady stream of climbers indigenous communities of long campaign for the behavior which they consider deeply offensive to end other longer longer and did another turn me now the time for talking is over from November next year the climb will close I'm here in the spiritual heart of Australia where I was born to find out why it's taken so long and how the ANA new people feel about the multi-million dollar tourism operation that's been built around their sacred site [Music] o-haru is steeped in ancient stories about the creation time the Anna knew people believed that in the beginning the world was unformed and featureless from this void ancestral beings emerged and traveled across the land creating all living species uluru is the physical evidence of feats performed during the creation period they have walked this land for over 50,000 years the Anna knew believed they had the direct descendants of the ancestral beings that created uluru and are responsible for the protection of these ancestral lands Pamela Taylor is one of the rocks traditional owners painter and holder of the ancient sacred stories that are enshrined in it rocks club lot of stories I'm Adam I can't tell you I'll be in trouble individual stories passed down orally as precious inheritance through families some shared with outsiders like me in the hope that they will understand their significance Pamela's family holds the story of long kata a greedy and dishonest Blue Tongue lizard ancestral being who came to uluru from the north and stole meat from the emu and went back up to his cave making laddie Wesley like when they call that I was getting really angry all right and then made a little fire it went right up and burn the kids not to go into somebody's house and stealing it because it'll get punished when the foundation of Anna new life and society is known as Chuck Oba a huge word that encompasses many things its religion and culture but it's also law with clear punishments for breaking it explains auntie Alison another western desert elder well everything's everything's taught privately through the elders like I've sat down as a kid learning and listening with my elders so you can have that and pass that into your your girls and through that process of listening to your elders hearing those stories do you get a sense of what's right what's wrong yes yes all that is taught to what the protocol what's right and what's wrong and how to behave how to respect other people over the boundaries over here how do they hope they we get taught all that to respect other people's country and Yacouba these creation stories are the anna-news spiritual compass they say the caves marks and rock formations all live and breathe with them senior traditional owner Sami Wilson's family holds the story of Cunha the worm a Python woman at a LaRue Sami tells me that she fought li rue the poisonous snake here at uh LaRue and signs of that ferocious battle are all around this water hole sitting I'm sitting on a vegetable virtually you know what sitting I got back that came on someone famous bloke you know that you read for eleven-year-old Tilly going to uh LaRue and into the caves where they're a rock art tens of thousands of years old is a deeply spiritual experience I felt like my Nana was right beside me and my grandpa my great-great grandpa and um that I felt sad because it was a very long time ago when he passed when he did that painting yeah because um we're not really let you go into the rock because we'll get sick and on that rock when you step on the rock your arm will get sick because you're stepping on your college Enya I'm dreaming the big climb became the white Australian sacred duty stepping on the Dreaming is what hundreds of thousands of tourists around the world have done you know where they climb up without hard shoes on scrubbing and it's like a rope line of it it wasn't supposed to be like that when the first known white Australian explorers came to the area in 1873 they named the rock Ayers Rock after the premiere of South Australia Henry is is arrived in Australia with his wife and parts from England in 1840 he gained wealth and power through mining before entering politics over the next three decades in Parliament he exercised significant influence over the shaping of modern Australia at the 1950s increasing numbers of non-indigenous Australians were flocking to Ayers Rock [Music] and the ANA new people were displaced almost like a rite of passage they have heard from their parents and often their parents parents that you have to come out here and climb and Australians like to conquer things and I think that's probably one of the reasons but it's not just Australians we get a lot of Europeans a lot of people from from Asia particularly that do want to climb many of the climbers I meet at the base of the rock have come to do it before it closes it's always been my dream and we finally made it yeah I like to to challenges I will see how far we get in the morning have you guys yes I do and I understand that about going to do it anyway yeah because this will be the last chance because he closing it off next year and next year I'll be too old you don't feel at all kind of uneasy about that if they say that this is like a sacred site for them like climbing not read a more a sacred Church I hadn't thought of that aspect of it I think we need to work with them and you just come them or change them once a alright let's open it again like that or they might open it for a certain period of a time each year or something like that I came here with some girlfriends pacifically to climb it before they closed it we just wanted to get the full experience of over and you know why the climbs closing don't you that there are no people don't like it they feel like it's trampling on one of their sacred besides did you not feel it all Bob I did I did and after after climbing I'm glad that I climbed it I had the opportunity to climb it but I respect why they don't want people to climb it because it's very sacred and very important to them so when you were climbing even Phil I did and then those parts of me that did but the experience of wanting to get the full experience of the rock I I suppose push that aside to get the overall experience it wasn't until 1985 the ANA new people after being recognized as traditional owners were presented with the freehold title deeds for the uluru national park area in 2011 the indigenous land council bought the Ayers Rock Resort with a promise to employ and train Aboriginal people for jobs in the tourism sector is the tourism machine surrounded us is bringing in hundreds each day into this very isolated area 300,000 visiting each the threat of losing the tourist delay they push for the climb to be close was enormous pressure the indigenous owners and talk they did in a historic vote the board of twelve people including eight and a new elders decided to shut the climb down last year I was there on the day when the decision happened and there were tears in people's eyes not just an annoyance TAF who have been here for many many years everyone was just so excited that finally the decision had been made well again I don't know a very mindful of particularly for tourism that there are many people who do want to climb all arrow and that's why you have the lead time of two years for the decision to be implemented so again they've done things the right way there's been a lot of consultation in the twos and ministries fully supportive of the decision semi Wilson has set up his own tourism company to try and get some of those visitors to see the land through their eyes he's referring to the 35 people who have died attempting to climb all Aroo we actually say to people it's equivalent of you clambering over not today once you explain it that way people are horrified and they they realize but if you say it's culturally significant and it's really important to tradition owners that doesn't resonate when we actually explain what you've done is sacrilege so they really they're taken aback and I understand later in the day pamela who's planning to cry mall Aroo in the morning catches up with me at a different part of the rock and she's very keen to talk again my true reason for climbing is my ego because I've just turned 70 I've got two replacement knees and I want to see if I can challenge myself to get as far as I can and I have been thinking about that since you thought I saw you last and yes it's the ego definitely almost 200 years since the British Invasion Australia remains the only Commonwealth country to have never signed a treaty with its indigenous people last year around 300 indigenous leaders came together at uluru demanding real legal and political recognition and power as the First Nation people of Australia it is important to us you know it is important and and governments and and people should respect and recognize that that we are the first people of the land and I work for my black government they are the teachers we have doctors and lawyers and anthropologists and nurses and everything in our system in their customary system [Music] I grew up on an away land in Armadale in an area European settlers called New England because with its cool climate and rolling hills it reminded them of home but my family on my father's side were amongst the first settlers to come from Europe to South Australia and while I was working on this story I realized I had a much closer connection to all Aroo or Ayers Rock than I had realized with the arrogance of invaders and the ignorance of outsiders they gave the rock the name is rock after my great-great-great uncle Henry Ayers who was a senior politician in Australia at the time a connection I've only recently realized and I'm not sure how I feel about it I spent the day thinking about this connection after years living away from Australia this trip has made me realize how dislocated non-indigenous Australians are to the stories of the land we live in I tell Sammy that Henry Ayers is my great-great great-great uncle the person that the first white person to come here named this rock after something I feel a little bit uncomfortable about so do want to say sorry for the disrespectful way and brutal way that families like mine treated Aboriginal people in the past his reaction surprises me he's excited because he says his great-great-grandfather met explorer William Gauss [Music] they came up with that name is rock they wanted to call it later that afternoon I tell Allison but now we are looking at going forward and and teaching non-indigenous people respect in that and develop that understanding and that trust about what happened rather than living in the past so they all about coming together interacting you know showing the dance I speak five languages and English its Martin piece with Alison's language skills she works as a bridge between the elders the government and the tourism operators today is dancing in an Emer a welcome ceremony for visitors who are here for a cultural festival called jungle on stage is Tilly with her all-female school girls drumming group at we're May it's an event that showcases indigenous culture from across Australia for a mixed audience renowned Australian Indigenous country music singer Troy cassar-daley is a regular performer here what it does I think it brings people from the outside and helps immerse them in some cultural things they'll never see in Sydney black white people should all come here and carry a bit of the spirit home and I mean touch your foot over there near uluru and take a bit of that pop that feeling with you it's not hard to feel that it's a great place and then as night falls a new way of stories being told is revealed indigenous Australian fashion brands using material with the paintings that tell the ancient stories of the creation time led by Australia's leading indigenous model indigenous artwork is you know on cannabis and things like that but I think it's really great that now it's being you know put into fashion it also has a lot of meaning behind it there's a story behind it it's not just you know you know a normal dress you would buy this shop it's a special elder auntie Alison who helped organize this festival says she wants to see more of this kind of tourism at uluru the sharing of stories rather than conquering the rock they want the world to see they want Australia to see the culture is live and well here today do you think there's enough of this kind of talking no I'd like to see more about this kind of talking so I hope that when we went up the parks close there will be opportunities to sit down and talk more when the climb close you mean yeah yeah cuz there'll be time for elders to to teach ya the sharing of our shared Australian history in order to heal and create a new more inclusive modern narrative on this ancient land [Music]

Channel: BBC News

Views: 32,802

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news, documentary, full documentary, bbc film, bbc film documentary, Australia, Uluru, Uluru rock, the rock, reclaiming the rock

Id: 8T4w7jv3lhA

Length: 21min 58sec (1318 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 26 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/E_C_H]

Heya there, had a dumb lil idea for a series to post in celebration of CBRX2's beginning: there's a natural overlap between civ fans and history nerds, so why not do a showcase of each civ, whether as a culture, the leader they have specifically or even an event the civ is based on! Will try to keep a schedule of Thursday and Sunday afternoons (GMT) to spread these posts apart from releases, do lemme know if you see any issues or ideas.

Won't lie, for the Anangu I was hoping to find something more on the culture as a whole, but this BBC report does a good job explaining some current affairs and centres right on their CBRX2 TSL, so why not! Perhaps if there's a next time around I can go for a video on the Dreamtime.

[u/ZanthorTitanius]

Great series idea! This was a good watch. If you’re doing these in alphabetical order, I hope you don’t skip a Civ when it gets eliminated. I’d hate to miss a chance to learn about one of these because their civ didn’t win in game.