Songlines and Uluru

Well internet connection and the inability of my phone to charge because of overheating has been a problem for posting in the last few days.
But on arrival in Uluru we went to a cultural center where we saw these vibrant painting made by aboriginal women. It is mainly the women that do the paintings.  They tell stories or are maps but so beautifully colorful.  Before the 1950’s they did not paint on canvas but on bodies or in the sand but following questions from anthropologists they started to describe to them some of their mythology and made these sorts of paintings that immediately became a hit on the contemporary art market. Most of them are made by touching a finger or paintbrush to a wet pigment and pressing it onto the surface to make a dot.They are all painted on a dark backgrounds.  
Lots of stories here about giant snakes and fights between animals and they all describe morals. 
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This is a little lingo from the outback:  The womens toilette is here. 




There is so much to be said about Uluru.  The photos do not do it justice. It is a 500 million year old rock of feldspar sandstone that formed out of an alluvial plain and a massive upheaval turned this rock in its side where it has been since .  Time has given it an iron oxide patina and the rain falls down it in cascades and form pools at the base that make for shade and shelter.

The forms from every light and angle are evocative and stories have evolved.

It is considered the heart of Australia and preserving its peoples and habitat are paramount. The indigenous peoples here are very sensitive to the land and were able to repossess this site after a long struggle.
And so it became Uluru.  





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