This clip presents an Indigenous view of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). It includes Indigenous music and aerial views accompanied by a voice-over explaining how the landscape of Mparntwe was created by ancestral beings as they travelled through the country. Arrernte Elder Max Stuart explains that the traditions are alive despite the town buildings and some loss of culture. Peter Renehan, an Aboriginal man from Alice Springs, explains that Indigenous people are not against development but want some consideration of their traditions. The clip includes subtitles.

Educational value points

• This clip uses the words of Elder Max Stuart to present the land of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) as ‘a big book’ for Arrernte people. He explains the Dreaming and tells viewers that without ink or pen, ‘We just kept it in our mind. Keep it in our head’. The features of the landscape were created by ancestral beings and Elder Max Stuart explains that while development has interrupted this landscape, the Dreaming remains present for the Arrernte people.
• The clip asserts Arrernte culture and Dreaming as a living tradition through singing, the music of the clapping sticks and the subtitled commentary. The use of Arrernte language highlights the strength of the Arrernte culture. Elder Max Stuart says, ‘… underneath these houses … still there dancing … I can go walkabout and camp out on me own out bush. I can hear them mob talking to me. Under my pillow, they’re singing’.
• The clip illustrates the difficult position of the Arrernte people in Alice Springs caught between maintaining their culture and the existence of some of their sacred and cultural sites beneath the town buildings and infrastructure. The commentary refers to a culture clash: the conflict between the duty to maintain sacred sites, care for the land and pass on spiritual knowledge to the next generation and participation in a modern town that continues ‘to damage their Dreaming land’.
• The clip concludes with spokesperson Peter Renehan explaining that the Arrernte custodians are not against development but want more compromise and respect from the developers. He refers to custodians allowing roads to proceed because they are useful but also criticises the developers as ‘disbelieving’. While there is conflict between non-Indigenous developers and Indigenous people who want less development, the issue is presented as complex.
• The clip reflects the contemporary situation of native title holders who have a say in future development in the area. The film was made in 2004, just four years after the recognition of native title in Alice Springs, which was the first recognition of native title in an urban area in Australia. Native title includes recognition of the Arrernte as traditional Indigenous owners who have rights to protect places of importance and to make decisions about the use of land.
• This clip presents the development to date of the ‘big town’ of Alice Springs from an Indigenous perspective. The pale grid of streets appears insubstantial compared to the rich colours of the earth without buildings. The Arrernte name of Mparntwe is provided alongside the name given to the town that was renamed Alice Springs in 1933. Greatly expanded, today it includes a diverse Indigenous population as well as many non-Indigenous Australians.

The custodians of Mparntwe have to contend with developers when they attempt to maintain the sacred sites. The township of Alice Springs is built over Arrernte sacred sites, and Arrernte elder Max Stuart tells us that, despite the presence of the township, the Dreaming is still happening. In this clip we are introduced to the concept that, although the western township of Alice Springs was built over important Arrernte cultural sites which interrupts the Arrernte people’s cultural practice, the Dreaming itself is still happening.

Mparntwe Sacred Sites Synopsis

A documentary about the sacred sites of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and how the development of Alice Springs affected the cultural traditions of the Arrernte people.

Curator's Notes

Mparntwe Sacred Sites is a documentary that speaks about a clash of beliefs. The development of Alice Springs interfered with the cultural practice of the Arrernte people, and in this documentary the Arrernte people speak of having to compromise with the developers in order to protect sites. Mparntwe Sacred Sites is about two cultural beliefs existing in the same space. While the Arrernte have Dreaming stories thousands of years old that tell how the land was given formation, the Arrernte people interviewed say these stories are ‘not believed’ by the developers. The importance of being able to practice culture and protect the land is inherent to wellbeing. Arrernte elders in Mparntwe Sacred Sites give us an intensive history of the area of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and the journey of the many ancestral beings that gave Mparntwe its form. It is during the National Native Title Tribunal hearings of 1997 that Native Title was recognised in Alice Springs.

Notes by Romaine Moreton