There were four or five tools in all – a spear, bowls to carry food and water, a hoe, some wood tools used to start a fire. Beside them were several uprooted Spinifex plants. Burning Spinifex forms a powerful adhesive that the Anangu (aboriginal) people of the Uluru area used to attach stone flints to their spears and repair their water bowls. Our Anangu guide, who spoke so softly that members of our group repeatedly asked him to speak up, explained that these were the basic tools that the people of the region used to survive in the harsh desert climate. The group all nodded, no doubt thankful to enjoy the spoils of modern life that until quite recently the Anangu could not.  Yet this is a people with an unbroken oral tradition dating back tens of thousands of years – arguably the oldest continuous culture in the world. Like Uluru, the Anangu have quietly stood the test of time. Far off civilizations have come and gone, the level sands of central Australia have replaced both mountains and an ancient sea, but the red sandstone cliffs of Uluru and the Anangu remain, their footprint relatively slight. The Australian continent is better off for them.

Uluru

Uluru gorge

Uluru up close

Uluru

Anangu guide

Anangu tools

Creating fire

Uluru gorge

Uluru