Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Olgas (Kata Tjututa), Northern Territory


About 50 kms up the road from Uluru are The Olgas as they used to be called but now the traditional owners call them Kata Tjuta.



There used to be lots of walks here once but the Aboriginal owners have closed all but two so they can practice their ancient culture in private.


Thousands of years ago ceremonies were conducted here by the Pitjantjajara people and still are, particularly at night. One of these ancient ceremonies included a type of public punishment, including death.




Yesterday an elder told us through an interpreter that if a man did something wrong and needed to be punished they would run a spear through the offender's thigh from the outside in.






When the wound healed, the scar would be visible for all to see and the people would know that this man was not to be trusted.





Kata Tjuta means place of many heads. It's two hundred metres taller than Uluru and consists of 36 individual domes.




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