A MULTIMEDIA CULTURAL SITE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE ROCK PAINTINGS AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF ULURU, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

摘要

The monolith known as Uluru, also called Ayer's Rock, is one of the most recognised icons of the Australian landscape. It is located almost at the dead centre of the Australian continent, within the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, and within the country of the Anangu people. The land around Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) was ceded to the Anangu people in 1985, and leased back to the Australian Government to be managed jointly as a National Park using the principles of tjukurpa (traditional law and morals) as the basis of the management decisions. The Plan of Management for the Park recognises this approach to joint management, and also requires that the rock painting and pecking sites located around the rock be documented and conserved as they contribute greatly to the social and cultural landscape. Following a photogrammetric survey of over 80 rock art sites it was decided to develop a site management system to hold all of the documentation of the sites. This system was developed through extensive consultation with the senior men and women in the Mutitjulu community, and it was during this consultation that the project was extended to contain other material important to the custodians. The Cultural Site Management System is capable of dealing with digitised site plans, photographs, report forms, works forms, and digital audio and video. It has been developed so that only people authorised to view certain images are given access, with the facility to restrict images depending on circumstances. It has also been designed to be used by the community, with extensive use of graphical user interfaces in order to simplify operation. It is now being used to store the intangible heritage of the people of Uluru. This paper will report on the development of the system, and progress and acceptance of the system to date.