The new experience from Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia is a $10 million investment and has been three years in the making. The surround-sound and light show involves over 1,100 drones flying up to 100m above the desert and tells part of the ancient Mala story from Kaltukatjara to Uluru.
The latest offering at Uluru has been a collaboration between the Indigenous-owned Voyages, Melbourne based media architecture studio RAMUS and Anangu, who live in the area around Uluru. Wintjiri Wiru translates to ‘a beautiful view out to the horizon’ in the Anangu language.
“People from every place have come to see Uluru. Now we want people to come and experience our story in a new way,” said Rene Kulitja, on behalf of the Anangu Consultation Committee.
“We want visitors to know this is our story, to look and listen and feel with us. Our stories have been here since the beginning, and we want to share this story with the world.”
Voyages has designed two signature experiences around the show, a three-hour Wintjiri Wiru Sunset Dinner, which begins with cocktails and canapes and progresses to a gourmet dinner hamper with Australian wines, and After Dark, a later show, which includes light refreshments before the show and lasts one hour. Both the experiences take place on a sustainably built dune-top platform.
Exclusive use of either experience is possible for business events groups of up to 130 delegates. The show itself is fully accessible, with the surround experiences accessible on request.
“When you choregraph over 1,100 drones to tell a story that’s been told in the sand for more than 60,000 years and will now be told using cutting-edge technology for the world to see, it is important to us that we honour the culture in every step of the process,” said Voyages CEO Matthew Cameron-Smith, of the organisation’s consultation with Anangu.
