Decolonizing the Gaze at Uluru (Ayers Rock) - Tourism and Visual Culture: Theories and Concepts - page 78

the direct and cognitive Western gaze. A local
Anangu man's comment illustrates this different
nature of Western and Aboriginal ways of see-
ing and knowing place.

else'. Today, Uluru-Kata Tju t a National Park is
jointly managed by Anangu and non-Aboriginal
rangers, following the principles of Tjukurpa.
Workshops and compulsory accreditation for
tour operators aim to protect cultural integrity,
while emphasizing Anangu interpretation of
Uluru (Uluru-Kata Tjuta Board of Management,
2000, p.136). The opening of the Cultural Centre
became central to this mission, extending Anan-
gu's ability to simultaneously share and manage
knowledge of country. Amongst the cultural dis-
play, the visitor is simultaneously introduced to
Anangu regulation of the gaze: photography in
the Cultural Centre is prohibited, and photo dis-
plays of traditional owners will be concealed dur-
ing mourning periods in the case of a traditional
owner's death. Spatial restructuring closer to the
Rock itself represents further efforts towards the
creation of a culturally and environmentally sen-
sitive infrastructure. Sacred sites are generally
fenced off to prevent visitors from entering and
signs prohibit photography at these sites. Anan-
gu's request to visitors not to climb the Rock is
prominently represented in the visitor guide, at
the Cultural Centre and at the foot of the climb.

Do you know what the difference is between
you whitefellas and us blackfellas? You
whitefella look at the rock - you are all crazy
about the rock - you look at it and you have
heard the story of Kuniya and Liru. So you
look at it and maybe you can see a shape here
that looks a little bit like a snake, a little bit like
Kuniya and you think, alright, I can see Kuniya
alright. But us blackfella, we look at Uluru and
we say, oh yes, Kuniya, she's getting old, she's
starting to look a little bit like rock now.
(Field notes, 2006)

While the Western gaze remains in the frontal and
subject position, scrutinizing its object for frag-
ments of knowledge and looking for signs of what
it perceives as a mythological past - but having
found the sign, fails to understand the story's full
meaning and applicability - the Aboriginal inti-
macy with country extends far beyond the visual.
The rock in Anangu perspective is a living co-
presence, the body of the ancestor, forming the
personal and collective link to country and with
past and future generations. From this embodied
presence of living knowledge and culture derives
a sense of kinship and responsibility for country
and people. Anangu interpretation, according
to Tjukurpa, encourages a dialogic relationship
with country as opposed to the one-directional
gaze of the habitual Western perspective.
During the 1970s, largely unregulated tour-
ism to the Rock led to severe environmental
degradation and cultural disturbances at Uluru
(Hill, 1994; Davison and Spearritt, 2000). The
protection of their country and cultural identity
thus depended on Anangu being able once
again to tell the stories of the Tjukurpa. With the
Rock's offi cial Handback, Anangu won Free-
hold Title for the national park, which they are
currently leasing back to the Federal Govern-
ment's Australian Parks and Wildlife Service.
Anangu have since been able to control repre-
sentation and management of the site signifi -
cantly. The Rocks' colonial name, 'Ayers Rock',
was changed back to 'Uluru' in 1993, but the
actual scope of Anangu control is summarized
in the maxim heading the current Plan of Man-
agement for the park (Uluru-Kata Tjuta Board
of Management, 2000): 'Tjukurpa above all

Tourist postures II - The walk

That's a really important sacred thing that you
are climbing . . . You shouldn't climb. It's not
the real thing about this place. The real thing is
listening to everything.

And maybe that makes you a bit sad. But
anyway that's what we have to say. We are
obliged by Tjukurpa to say. And all the tourists
will brighten up and say, 'Oh, I see. This is the
thing that's right. This is the proper way: no
climbing.' Kunmanu, tradtitional owner.
(UKTNP, 2006, p. 6)

As I have outlined above, the distinct and con-
tested 'rituals' of engaging with Uluru involve dif-
ferent postures and ways of seeing. The tourist
ritual of climbing the rock claims the ontologi-
cally symbolic space of the 'above'. This posture
creates and reinforces the detached gaze over an
objectifi ed landscape. In opposition to this, the
traditional Indigenous relationship to country is
fundamentally place-related, personal and dia-
logic. As Kunmanu says above, these different
ways of interacting with place - gazing at it ver-
sus listening to it - produce different kinds of