WED 24.07.2013: Headed out for an overnight trip to Devils Marbles (104km east of Tennant Creek). Around 1700 million years ago, molten magma squeezed through ancient sandstones of the earth's crust and cooled into hard granite rock, the Devils Marble Granite. Shrinkage as the granite cooled and pressures within the earth caused right angled patterns called joints to form. As the overlaying rocks were eroded by wind and water the granite came closer to the surface. Groundwater filtered down along the joints and reacted with some of the minerals in the granite to form clays. Weathering was greatest at the corners of the blocks where more surfaces were exposed. During the construction of the Overland Telegraph Link in 1872 John Lewis first recorded the name "Devils Marbles."
During rains water collects in the rock holes high up on the rocks. Kaytetye, Warumungu, Anmatyerr and Alyawarr people would stop to hunt and drink here on their travels around their country.
Karlwekarlwe in the Dreamtime -
"This is a really secret place. I've done ceremonies here. It's a sacred place. You have to keep it well."
A Senior Traditional Owner.
Karlwekarlwe literally means round objects. It is rich in dreaming sites, places where special events happened in the Altywerre Wirnkarra or Dreamtime.
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| AS THE SUN SET THE ROCKS CHANGE TO A RED HUE |
Aboriginal people believe that people from the dreaming at Karlwekarlwe live in the caves under the rocks here.
The Dreaming Is Still Here:
'They're real people like us. You can see them.
A long time ago I went with my billy can down to the creek to get some water.
One of these secret people came out and started playing with me.
I couldn't go away.
My mother came and got me, saved me.
After that we never camped at this place again, never.
They're kind these secret people, but they can make you mad.
They can change you into one of them.
They can say "Follow me", and you can't go back.
It happened like that for my cousin. He disappeared.
The old people made a big ceremony singing to the ground and the rocks to make them let my cousin come back.
We've lost that song now.
We've got no song to bring children back.'
A Senior Traditional Owner.
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| AS WE PASSED THIS MARBLE WE HEARD MOVEMENT - FORTUNATELY CAROLE WAS ABLE TO PUSH IT BACK INTO PLACE! |
We stayed at the Devils Marbles Campground ($6.00 per head), with the marbles all round us. The photographs do not really translate the impact this area has on you. Surreal it probably the most descriptive word - well worth the visit. Just on dusk we saw our first wild dingo which made its way through the camp and into the bush.
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