'Tjukurpa Katutja Ngarantja' | Tjukurpa above everything else
Anangu traditional owners have looked after Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park's landscape for tens of thousands of years. Tjukurpa (pronounced ‘chook-orr-pa’) is the foundation of Anangu culture. Just as a house needs to stand on strong foundations, so their way of life stands on Tjukurpa.
Since early European exploration, Anangu have tried to maintain their culture and country, often through tremendous odds. As roads and air travel opened up the once remote centre of our country, Uluru and Kata Tjuta’s peoples, landscapes, plants and animals all came under pressure from mining, pastoralism and tourism.
We’ve compiled a series of timelines to give you an insight into Uluru and Kata Tjuta’s modern history, how it went from an unknown blank on most western maps in the 1870s to one of the most iconic national parks you can visit today.