What is Tjukurpa/Wapar? The term, Tjukurpa/Wapar, includes many complex but complementary concepts.
| • | Anangu religion, law and moral systems. |
| • | the past, the present and the future. |
| • | the creation period when ancestral beings, Tjukaritja/Waparitja, created the world |
| • | the relationship between people, plants, animals, and the land |
| • | how these relationships came to be, what they mean and how they are maintained |
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. Ancestors provide the example of how to behave. 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.
Law
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/Wapar Versus Dreamtime
'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 This translation, originally made by non-Aboriginal people, suggests the beliefs are unreal and changeable.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.
The Creation Period
The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Anangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja.
Mala
The journeys and activities of the creator beings are recorded in the landscape. Sites where significant events in their story took place are linked by what we call, iwara (paths or tracks). Some of the sites are so very significant that they are known as 'sacred sites'. Today our people still know where these sites and these iwara are and where they go although there is no physical road. Our grandmothers and grandfathers teach us this. The iwara (tracks) link places that are sometimes hundreds of kilometres outside the Park and beyond Yankunytjatjara/ Pitjantjatjara country. So they are significant to other groups of indigenous people too.
For example, the Mala Tjukurpa involves three groups of Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people who travel from the north to reach Uluru. Two groups then flee south and south-east to sites in South Australia. Kuniya Tjukurpa tells of the travels of the Kuniya (Woma Python) from hundreds of kilometres east of Uluru. Many other Tjukurpa such as Kalaya (Emu), Liru (poisonous snake), Lungkata (blue tongue lizard), Luunpa (kingfisher) and Tjintir-tjintirpa (willie wagtail) travel through the Park. Other Tjukurpa affect only one specific area. Many exploits of Tjukurpa involve ancestral beings going underground. Kuniya, the woma python, lived in the rocks at Uluru where she fought the Liru, the poisonous snake.
Anangu landscapes are therefore full of meaning. They represent creation stories and associated knowledge of Law, relationships, plants, and animals represented in the shapes and features of the land. This knowledge has been passed down between the generations from grandparents to grandchildren. With the knowledge comes responsibilities and obligations to care for the land and each other in the proper way. When Anangu travel across the land they do so with the knowledge of the exploits of the ancestral beings. Their knowledge of the land, and the behaviour and distribution of plants and animals is based on their knowledge of Tjukurpa. The elder people recount, maintain and pass on this knowledge through stories, behaviour, rituals, ceremonies, songs, dances and art.
Tjukurpa is the basis of all Anangu knowledge. The deeper meanings of Tjukurpa, known to the old and most senior people, are the keys that underpin everything in Anangu life - knowledge, attitudes, relationships, economics, spirituality, physical and emotional wellbeing. Tjukurpa connects everything in life. Therefore changes to any part of the land or the relationships have ramifications for other things.
Passing on Tjukurpa
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. 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 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 in the local area. Tjukurpa is extremely important to Anangu. They can share some information with non-Aboriginal people, but the secret, sacred information must be protected and remain only with senior Anangu.
Text taken from Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park