Why does the Australian landscape look the way it does? How was Uluru/Ayers Rock formed? Western science describes it as a sandstone rock formation thrust up into existence 600 million years ago during the Petermann Orogeny. The traditional custodians of Uluru, the A?angu, know the iconic landmark was created by their ancestors during The Dreaming-an English term used to refer to an Indigenous concept that permeates through all time and informs Indigenous worldviews.

This course will explore the creation of the Australian landscape features using two ways of understanding: Indigenous Knowledge Systems that are embedded in country, with knowledge held by senior custodians, and Western scientific approaches, such as geomorphology-a discipline that considers the origin and evolution of landforms in terms of the physical processes that shape them. The course will also consider the extent to which these explanations either complement or contradict one another.

The ecological and environmental knowledge contained in Indigenous Knowledge Systems can inform the wider public about the significance of sites, and provide sustainable management approaches to improve the health of sacred sites threatened by mining and development, weak heritage protection regimes and inadequate intellectual property rights and protections.

Through this course you will gain an understanding of how Indigenous Knowledge Systems are maintained in the 21st century, and the validity of a two-way approach to seeing, reading, and caring for country.