Tjukurpa or Wapar is our law, culture, history, and our world view all bundled into one.  Our ancestors have lived around Uluru (Ayers Rock) for many thousands of years, maintaining Tjukurpa, the law of the ancestors.  Our grandparents taught us our Tjukurpa, just as their grandparents taught them. 

The term, Tjukurpa/Wapar, includes many complex but complementary concepts.

Tjukurpa/Wapar encompasses:

· Anangu religion, law and moral systems;

· the past, the present and the future.

· the creation period when ancestral beings, Tjukaritja/Waparitja, created the world as it is now;

· the relationship between people, plants, animals and the physical features of the land; and

· the knowledge of how these relationships came to be, what they mean and how they must be maintained in daily life and in ceremony.

It is important that all visitors to our country gain an understanding of Tjukurpa, and it is our role to pass it on.  As a visitor we help you learn from the beginning, just like our children, a little bit at a time, so you understand properly.

We have designed our tours to give visitors of all ages the opportunity to learn Tjukurpa, and something of our lifestyle and history.  Each of our tours focuses on a different Tjukurpa from a different ancestor. 

We want you to see what we see inside that big Rock, and take home some of our spiritual feelings for this place.

Tjukurpa is the foundation of Anangu life.

(There is not a single word in English that conveys the complex meaning of Tjukurpa. This is why at Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park we use the Pitjantjatjara word. The Traditional Owners who speak Yankunytjatjara use the word Wapar to mean the same complex body of Law and beliefs).

'Dreamtime' or 'Dreaming' is often used to describe the way Anangu see their origins. This translation, originally made by non-Aboriginal people, suggests the beliefs are unreal and changeable. Tjukurpa/Wapar is no dream, and there is no such word as 'Dreamtime' in Anangu language.

Anangu are pleased that this interaction between themselves and the land has now been recognized as being of World Heritage value.

Tjukurpa provides Anangu with a whole way of life. It includes rules, obligations, responsibilities and guidelines for relationships. Tjukurpa is the key that underpins Anangu attitudes and guides people's spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, moral and economic behaviour. It guides daily life through a series of symbolic stories and metaphors. The stories are not simple stories, but represent technically complex explanations of the origins and structure of the universe, and the place and behaviour of all elements within it.

Understanding of such stories increases throughout their lives. For a child, a story may be a moral tale about greed, while for an adult it may provide complex explanations of ethical behaviour.

Tjukurpa establishes the rules Anangu use to govern society and manage their land. It dictates correct procedures for dealing with problems, and penalties for breaking the Law. The proper way of doing things is the way things are done in Tjukurpa.

Since the coming of non-Aboriginal people Anangu have had to modify some of the penalties under traditional Law. Anangu have also adapted non-Aboriginal law to help enforce Tjukurpa. Sacred sites are protected under Commonwealth and Northern Territory legislation and hunting and foraging rights are protected under the legislation and lease agreement with the Director of National Parks. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Plan of Management protects Tjukurpa by using it as a guide for making management and policy decisions.

Tjukurpa is not written down, but is an oral culture. It is a cultural obligation to pass on this knowledge to the right people. Ceremonies play an important role in the passing on of knowledge. Specific people or groups in a kinship system have responsibility to maintain different sections of Tjukurpa track. This knowledge is carefully passed on to people who have inherited the right to that knowledge through, for example, their birthplace, or earned the right, for example, by progressive attendance at ceremonies.

There are many interrelated devices for remembering Tjukurpa, such as specific verses of inma (songs), site-related stories, ritual dances or art. The iwara (ancestral paths) are recalled in long sequential lists of sites, sometimes including sites beyond country which has been visited, and including sites belonging to other people.

Tjukurpa is also recorded in various designs and paintings, such as the 'dot' paintings of the Western Desert. These designs are often sacred and use and creation is restricted to specific groups or individuals.

Some sounds are particularly associated with particular Tjukurpa. The sound of the bullroarer, for example, is associated with secret men's' ceremonies. It is for this reason that Anangu don't want bull roarer-like objects sold to tourists.

Tjukurpa is extremely important to Anangu. They can share some of its information with non-Aboriginal people, but the secret, sacred information must stay only with senior Anangu.

On all of out tours we speak to you in our language and this is interpreted by a language interpreter.  Our interpreters are good English speakers and we have trained them in our language.  We work as a very good team. 

Anangu speak a range of dialects that collectively are called Western Desert languages. The most predominant of these languages spoken by the staff at Anangu Tours are Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. 

 Our languages are a very important part of our culture.  We speak our language to keep it strong and to keep our culture strong.  Speaking in our language empowers us!

Anangu is the term that Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people from the Western Desert region of Australia use to refer to themselves.

In the past the word Anangu had a more specific usage, being used to refer to a person or people as opposed to other non-human forms of life. Over the years, since contact with Europeans, it has come into common use in the region as a term referring to Aboriginal people, as opposed to non-Aboriginal people, as well as Aboriginal people who come from other parts of Australia.

Many Mutitjulu Anangu speak Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara. Ngaanyatjarra and Luritja are also spoken in this region. These are all dialects of what linguists term the Western Desert Language, Aboriginal Australia's largest language group. Western Desert dialects are sometimes grouped together and conveniently, though inaccurately, labelled Pitjantjatjara. Anangu who speak Western Desert dialects can be found from Halls Creek and Balgo in the north of Western Australia through to Oodnadatta and Yalata in South Australia.

The many different Aboriginal languages and dialects throughout Australia are evidence of the cultural diversity of Aboriginal peoples. Around 250 languages have been recorded and these languages are spoken by more than 500 named language groups.

Pitjantjatjara word definitions

Generally Pitjantjatjara words are used throughout the Park, however significant numbers of people in the Mutitjulu community speak Yankunytjatjara. Here are some words you might encounter: