Mparntwe Sacred Sites Filming Locations
Where was Mparntwe Sacred Sites filmed? Mparntwe Sacred Sites was filmed in 7 locations across Australia in the following places:
Mparntwe Sacred Sites Filming Locations
Alice Springs is a remote town in Australia’s Northern Territory, halfway between Darwin and Adelaide, both 1,500km away. It’s a popular gateway for exploring the Red Centre, the country's interior desert region. Its 1872 origin as part of the Overland Telegraph Line (linking Darwin and Adelaide) is preserved in the vintage buildings and equipment at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve.
The Northern Territory (aka NT) is a vast federal territory in Australia famed for its Outback desert landscapes. In the arid Red Centre lie the iconic sandstone monolith Uluru (Ayers Rock), the red-rock domes of Kata Tjuta and the sculpted cliffs of Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park. Remote Alice Springs, the gateway town to the Red Centre desert, offers Aboriginal art galleries.
Central Australia is a huge outback region in the Northern Territory, centred on the town of Alice Springs. Also known as the Red Centre, its vast terrain spans dusty red desert, mountain ranges and gorges home to cockatoos and kangaroos. It’s known for Uluru, or Ayers Rock, a massive rock monolith and sacred Aboriginal site. Close by is Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas, a group of 36 immense ochre rock domes.
Mparntwe Sacred Sites (2004)
This documentary focuses on the sacred sites in and around Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in central Australia, and the struggle of the Arrernte people to identify, document and preserve these sites in the face of rapid urban expansion and property development. Max Stuart, Thomas Stevens, Doris Stuart and other Elders talk about the importance of the sites in and around the city in terms of traditional Dreaming. They reflect on their sense of loss as sites are desecrated by urban development. The Caterpillar and Wild Dog Dreamings have many sites of critical importance in the area. Also threatened are the ancient gum trees in the Todd River, many of them of sacred significance and important to ceremony but being damaged by development and by outsiders passing through the area. As Doris Stuart says, "our whole being is tied up in these sites." The process of negotiation with the government and the city's developers are outlined by Indigenous lobbyist, Peter Renehan. Archival footage documents the hearings leading to the Native Title Act and the recognition of the Arrernte people as the first inhabitants of the Alice Springs area. A new process of consultation and co-operation with the traditional custodians of Knowledge and the Land is beginning to make a difference in terms of the protection of sacred sites.