Collaboration with Anangu of the central desert aims to introduce foreign visitors to Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Aboriginal lore

“We wanted to do it so visitors would get more understanding about this place when they come,” says Uluru traditional owner Sammy Wilson. “And that they’d understand and respect more about sacred sites and how they can respect Aboriginal lore and not take photographs.”

On Thursday, Google announced a collaboration with the world’s oldest continuing culture – that of Indigenous Australians, specifically the Anangu of the central desert.

For two years, Australia-based engineers have been working with the traditional owners of Uluru and Kata Tjuta – as well as Parks Australia and Tourism NT – to create an online experience of the sacred area through Street View.

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The addition of Uluru and Kata Tjuta aims to introduce international visitors to the site and the Tjukurpa – traditional Aboriginal lore. In keeping with the wishes of traditional owners, it does not climb the rock, but winds through significant areas and offers different perspectives of the startling site.

The Google “tracker”, a backpack-mounted 360-degree camera, has already gone through many national parks and heritage sites around the world, adding those sites to Street View’s archive.

But this project goes further with an additional element: Story Spheres, incorporating recordings of traditional song and stories as users explore the region.

Traditional owner and elder Reggie Uluru sings and Wilson tells stories to guide people around.

“We wanted to just give a small amount of one of the stories here, so that would show people just the tip of the iceberg of things they can learn when they come here,” says Wilson.

“We hope it encourages them to want to come and learn more from the Anangu people out here.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Uluru was formally ‘returned’ to its traditional owners more than 31 years ago. Photograph: Nagelestock/Alamy

The initiative required careful negotiation and discussion with traditional owners to ensure the cultural knowledge and heritage remained respected, controlled and owned by the traditional custodians.

The issue of non-Indigenous involvement in Indigenous areas remains a live issue in Australia, particularly around the tourism drawcard of Uluru.

But Wilson is positive about the Story Spheres project.

“They’ve been listening carefully to our advice on everything and asking us what we want to do,” he says. “This is our living, this is our livelihood and we want to be able to follow it our way, according to what we want, not what the outside wants.

“We’ll have to find out and see how it works. If people can get more understanding from it, and more visitors to us here, it can help our economic situation.”

More than 31 years ago, the lands of Uluru and Kata Tjuta were formally “returned” to traditional owners. In that time, the living standards of those in the Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu have not improved anywhere near as much as was hoped.

The nearby Ayers Rock Resort boasts Indigenous employment levels of 34% of its workforce – more than 280 people in 2015. However, fewer than 30 were from the local area.

Wilson, chair of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta board, has repeatedly spoken of unfair favouring of the resort over the people who lived nearby, and a lack of support in growing Indigenous-owned tourism ventures.

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“We’ve always said we want people to learn from the people who look after and learn from the people who have the knowledge of this country,” he says. “But we’re just still seeing people come and make money from our culture.”

Wilson says while mainstream Australia had the system to create businesses and Anangu had the system to bring culture, the two were often not coming together.

Casey Whitelaw, Google’s director of engineering in Australia and New Zealand, says the team identified early on the need to work thoughtfully and sensitively.



“It’s not just about going and getting some footage. It’s not just more pictures of Uluru up on the web. There’s more to it than that,” he says.

“The Anangu culture is one with a long history of oral storytelling, and we felt that was particularly important to try and capture … I really hope that this just raises the awareness of Anangu culture, and that between Story Spheres and Street View we’ve got an educational resource that’s inspiring. A lot of people come here looking for a rock and looking for a sunset, but [with this] maybe they’ll come here with a different appreciation.”