After the vast Northern Territory sky melts from purple to inky black, and the Milky Way dusts a silvery sheen over the world’s most recognisable rock, 1,100 choreographed drones take flight. rising up to 650ft in the sky, they’re joined by lasers, projections and multicoloured lights, illuminating desert oaks and mulga trees with hopping wallabies and licking flames. Music pulsates across the plain: mesmeric clapping sticks and mellifluous voices, speaking and singing inma (ceremonial songs) in local Pitjantjatjara (pronounced “pigeon-jarrah”) and Yankuntjatjarra (pronounced “young-kun-jarrah”), dialects of the Western Desert language, one of just 20 to 50 Aboriginal languages that are still spoken in Australia. English translations, also spoken by Anangu, follow.
“We are Anangu and we have one of the oldest continuing cultures on Earth. The story you will experience tonight has been passed to us from generation to generation. Our ancestors walked this Country, carried this story and shared this story through inma, our songs and our ceremonies. Tonight we share with you our story in a new way…”
It’s hauntingly beautiful, and while this ancient landscape dazzles brightly enough under its own blanket of stars, watching a creation story told in light by members of the world’s oldest surviving culture, is profound. Perhaps, as Bruce ramus says, “We are all made of light, and that’s why we’re drawn to it.”