Mutitjulu is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

community in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

located at the eastern end of

Uluṟu Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Springs ...

(also known as Ayers Rock). It is named after a knee-shaped water-filled rock hole at the base of Uluṟu, and is located in the

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The park is home to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is located south of Darwin by road and south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lassete ...

. Its people are

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

and joint managers of the park with

Parks Australia Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Cons ...

. At the 2011 census, Mutitjulu had a population of 296, of which 218 (71.2%) were Aboriginal. The majority of the Anangu (people) are

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are va ...

but there are also associated

Yankunytjatjara The Yankunytjatjara people, also written Yankuntjatjarra, Jangkundjara, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. Language Yankunytjatjara is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati la ...

, Luritja, and

Ngaanyatjarra The Ngaanyatjarra, also known (along with the Pini) as the Nana, are an Indigenous Australian cultural group of Western Australia. They are located in the Goldfields-Esperance region, as well as Northern Territory. Language Ngaanyatjarra is ...

people with the languages spoken being Pitjantjatjara, Luritja, and Yankunytjatjara. Arrernte people also have a traditional relationship with Uluṟu.

Tourism

Mutitjulu community run a number of guided tours for tourists visiting

, who show tourists certain sites, and share

Tjukurpa The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his c ...

the story of Uluṟu, as well as of its inhabitants. These tours are called Anangu Tours, from the

word Anangu which means "people". Access to the community is controlled by Anangu, who do not allow visitors to go to Mutitjulu community without permission. The community reserves the right to forbid visitors from entering their land. The people of Mutitjulu are also the traditional owners of Uluṟu, and have an art exhibition there where they sell paintings and other artefacts.

Economy

Much of the economy of Mutitjulu comes from tourism at Uluṟu and nearby

Yulara Yulara is a town in the southern region of the Northern Territory, Australia. It lies as an unincorporated enclave within MacDonnell Region. At the , Yulara had a permanent population of 1,099, in an area of . It is by road from World Heritag ...

, a small proportion of which is funnelled back to the local economy. Despite this, Mutitjulu is not wealthier than most other

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

communities.

Art centre

Maruku Arts & Crafts is a large and successful

-owned and -operated enterprise, run by Anangu (people of the Western and Central Deserts of Australia) since about 1990. It has a warehouse based in Mutitjulu, a retail gallery at Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Cultural Centre, as well as a

market stall A market stall or a booth is a structure used by merchants to display and house their merchandise in a street market, fairs and conventions. Some commercial marketplaces, including market squares or flea markets, may permit more permanent ...

town square. Its artwork consists mainly of paintings and woodcarvings. With about 900 artists in the collective, it provides an important source of income living in remote communities across central Australia. It seeks to "keep culture strong and alive, for future generations of artists, and omake culture accessible in an authentic way to those that seek a more in-depth understanding". Maruku is one of ten Indigenous-owned and -governed enterprises that go to make up the APY Art Centre Collective, established in 2013.

Mutitjulu Band

The Mutitjulu Band is led by Kimberley Taylor and David Honeymoon. They have performed at the

Araluen Arts Centre The Araluen Cultural Precinct, formerly the Araluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment, in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, is a cultural precinct which includes the Araluen Arts Centre, the Museum of Central Australia (incorpo ...

in Alice Springs, at a NAIDOC EVENT in Mutitjulu, at Voyagers resort in Yulara. They subsequently had songs recorded at the ABC recording studios in Sydney, and have grown in popularity.

Education

The community has a school which services students from Year 1 to Year 7, and a high school, Nyangatjatjara College. The cultural traditions of Mutitjulu dictate that once reaching adolescence, children must be taught only with peers of the same sex. Nyangatjatjara College is a boarding school, and hosts the young men and young women of the community separately in consecutive semesters. As with housing and health, Anglo-European education standards at Mutitjulu, are far lower than the Australian average.

Language

Languages spoken are

, Luritja and

. Communication between the languages, however, is not difficult as most residents speak several languages and these Aboriginal languages are closely related, all being mutually intelligibly varieties of the Western Desert Language. Efforts are made to preserve traditional customs, including traditional languages, but some

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is spoken by most residents. The level of English literacy by Mutitjulu residents is higher than in many

communities primarily due to the regular exposure to tourists at Uluṟu.

Relationship to Uluṟu

Many stories have been told by Indigenous Australians from all around Central Australia about Uluṟu. Some of these stories are recreated in

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and artwork, and many relate to the

dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

. Uluṟu is seen as having an explanation for why we are humans, and the stories help to describe much of the surrounding

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

Climbing of Uluṟu

The local Indigenous community from 1990 requested that visitors respect the sacred status of Uluṟu by not climbing the rock, with signs posted to this effect in late 1989. In 2017 the

board decided unanimously to ban the activity, from October 26, 2019.

Ownership of Uluṟu

The Anangu consider themselves caretakers rather than owners of Uluṟu. For many years, Uluṟu was controlled by non-Aboriginal Australians, with motels placed close by. Traditional owners who had been forced out of the national park returned and settled at Mutitjulu, and worked towards restoring their

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use a ...

. Tourist facilities have been moved about 24 km north to

, just outside the national park boundary.

Title handback

Title to the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park was returned to the traditional owners on 26 October 1985.