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Imagine an object flying through space faster than anything
you have ever seen. Imagine it is faster than a formula one racing car and, yes, to use
a well used frase in marvel land, faster than a speeding bullet. At 72,000km
per hour the icy mass, also known as a comet, travels a cool 20km per second in distance,
leaving a bullet to believe it is has turned into a snail. Six hundred square
metres of swashbuckeling ice-cone lining up our earth thinking “I just cant miss
that fat lot down there”.
Now visualize a flat piece of untouched Australian outback
such as the area 170km west of Alice Springs. A peaceful place - birds
singing – lizards hiding under the spinifex – kangaroos lazing around,
resting on their elbows - a soft breeze gently blowing through the occasional
Wattle Tree. And......
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| A model of Tnorala (Gosses Bluff) displayed at the Araluen Cultural Centre |
The impact must have been stupendous and the sound eardrum-destroying. Nature's
alien power squashing the earth beneath, forcing its crust up and out in a
jaggered mountainous circle with debris flying in all directions.
Where was Superman?
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| A sample of the cone shaped fragments with horsetail markings that were flying through the air at the moment of impact. Displayed at the Araluen Cultural Centre |
Ever since that moment 142.5 million years ago Tnorala, as its known by the indigenous locals, became a place of cultural significance. Dreamtime tales
of long ago passed down from elder to child for many thousands of years, will tell
you a story about Tnorala and how it originated.
Tnorala was
formed in the creation time, when a group of women danced across the sky at the
Milky Way. During this dance, a mother put her baby aside, resting in its
wooden baby-carrier (a turna). The carrier toppled over the edge of the dancing
area and crashed to earth where it was transformed into the circular rock walls
of Tnorala.
Information from the government website.
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| A baby falling from the sky. Photo courtesy of Pintrest |
Again my imagination goes rampant. I envisage the party that must have lit up the sky like a gigantic Saturday night disco, beaming light into the infinite space like shooting stars bouncing off a mirror ball - woman boogieing the night away, letting their hair down and forgetting the menial tasks of life – the whoopsy moment, where the huge baby drops from the sky unnoticed, gouging a massive hole in the surface of the earth. Maybe there was even a bit of a tiff between these ancient giants as to whose responsibility it was to look after the 600 square metre sized infant. A charming story.
More historical facts about the large dent in the earth becomes evident as you drive into another world through a wall of the rough circular range. The millions of years having done us a favour by carving a creek through the large crater walls. Driving over the red dirt, or is it a creek bed, you suddenly, in a large exhale of breath, find yourself in the centre of impact zone. The road ends at the picnic area where you can read the story told by Mavis Malbunka an aboriginal elder.
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| Mavis Malbunka at Tnorala. Photo courtesy of the ABC |
“The man went
off and told all the rest of the family, who lived all along the nearby ranges.
These people followed those Kadaitcha men, who came back from desert country,
to the south of here. The kadaitcha didn’t make it back to their community.
They were killed by the avenging family”.
Quote from
information panel at Tnorala.
When you are
sitting having your sandwiches at the declared ‘sorry sight’ let the violent, haunted history permeate
through your soul, respect that you are asked to camp outside the crater and
enjoy the rugged beauty that is Tnorala.
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| When he came back he found all his people, men, woman and children dead, killed. |
Grey Bits
I googled Mavis Malbunka out of curiosity and found that she features on the honour
role of the Australian of the Year Award. There is a great article written in the age about the stolen
generation including excerpts of an interview with Mavis.
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| Gosses Bluff when I first spotted it from the Larapinta trail |
For more general information about the area, please head to the government website
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| Inside the crater walls |
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