Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01354:body:0:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01354
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 19226–22180

includes systems of history, knowledge, philosophy, religion, morality and human behaviour that must be followed to live in harmony with each other and with the land. It also defines the relationships between Aṉangu, the landscape, and those who visit the land. For further more information about Tjukurpa, see Feature Box 1.

      According to Tjukurpa, there was a time when ancestral beings, in the forms of humans, animals and plants, travelled widely across the land and performed feats of creation and destruction. The journeys of these beings are remembered and celebrated, and the record of their activities exist today in the features of the land itself. For Aṉangu, this record provides an account and the meaning of the cosmos for the past and the present. When Aṉangu speak of the many natural features within the park, their interpretations and explanations are expressed in terms of the activities of particular Tjukurpa beings, rather than by reference to geological or other explanations. Therefore, the cultural significance of the park to Aṉangu not only includes the park's physical landscape, but also the detailed and extensive body of cultural knowledge associated with this landscape.

      Around Uluṟu there are many ancestral sites with strong links to Tjukurpa. Within this cultural landscape there is a system of gender-based cultural knowledge and responsibilities, where Aṉangu men are responsible for looking after sites and knowledge associated with men's law and culture, and Aṉangu women are responsible for looking after sites and knowledge associated with women's law and culture.

      Tjukurpa contains information not just about the landscape features, but also the ecology, the plants and animals, and appropriate use of areas of the park. Tjukurpa has been passed down through the generations and some information can be shared with visitors. Within the bounds of appropriate access to cultural knowledge, Tjukurpa is the source of much of the information for the interpretation of the park, as Aṉangu want visitors to understand how they see this landscape and to learn about Tjukurpa, Aṉangu culture and the park.
    Feature Box 1: Tjukurpa

    Tjukurpa is the foundation of Aṉangu life and encompasses:

      •      Aṉangu religion, law and moral systems

      •      the past, the present and the future

      •      the creation period when ancestral beings created the world as it is now

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

      •      the knowledge of how these relationships came to be, what they mean, and how they must be maintained in daily life and in ceremony
      •      strengthening family relationships by visiting relatives in other communities

      •      raising strong children and ensuring that knowledge is passed onto the next generation

    Tjukurpa is the foundation of Aṉangu caring for country and