Bringing travellers to Uluru is straightforward. The big red rock in the centre of Australia is one of the single most impressive destinations in the world. But, helping them to understand the emotion, significance and sanctity of the rock for the local Anangu community is a completely different matter.

Voyages Indigenous Tourism has been bringing guests to some of Australia’s most famous destinations for more than 20 years. But, while guests will often come, have a look and leave after a day or two, Matt Cameron-Smith, Voyages’ CEO, needed to find a way to make them stay longer — not only for the good of the business but also to help educate visitors on the importance of the land they’re walking on.

“We don’t want guests to come and have to choose between experiences. We deliberately designed the F&B and the concept to be different and complimentary to the Field of Light and Sound of Silence,” Cameron-Smith explained to Travel Weekly.

Field of Light and Sound of Silence are two of the experiences that Voyages offers from its Ayres Rock Resort, located just a stone’s throw from Uluru itself. Field of Light, for example, has been running for six years now, with Cameron-Smith describing it as a “very successful” venture. 

But, as he told us, it was important for Voyages to not “rest on its laurels” — which could easily be done given the majesty of the locale it finds its experiences and Resort within.

“You’ve got to keep looking at the next experience. When we had an idea of a new experience, we wanted to understand what’s cutting edge, what’s cool and how we can tell stories,” said Cameron-Smith.

The Anangu is not a written culture. It’s sung, it’s in art, it’s in stories. We wanted to find an amazing storytelling platform.”

An RFP for a sound and light show followed and this led the team to meet Bruce Ramus, a Canadian-born light artist who decamped to Melbourne in 2006 and set up an eponymous light show agency.

The team at RAMUS conceptualised a show that used drones to illustrate a story in the air. The choice of technology was paramount. As an airborne show, it has a minimal impact on the flora, fauna and Anangu community that call Uluru home. But, as Cameron-Smith made clear, this was not an exercise in technological showboating and the fact that it happens to be the world’s largest permanent drone show (more than 1,000 take flight every night) is almost an afterthought.

“We went to the community and said, ‘We have this idea, what story would you like us to tell?’” recalled Cameron-Smith.

In conversation and consultation with the Anangu people, they settled on the Mala story. A reference group was set up and then condensed into a smaller group of senior local knowledge holders with the cultural knowledge and authority to explain the story and help guide the project. 

The story itself tells a chapter of the Mala ancestral story which sits between Kaltukatjara (Docker River) and Uluru.

“The story is very spiritual and it means a lot to them. We didn’t want to do it the wrong way. The drones are sort of a secondary element to it, it’s just another mechanism,” said Cameron-Smith.

“What’s really important is that it’s an awesome cultural experience and we use light and sound to deliver it. The [Anangu] people in the working group are the voices you hear, singing and doing the voiceover. It’s really been a collaborative effort.”

When Cameron-Smith said that Wintjiri Wiru was an “awesome” cultural experience, he wasn’t wrong. 

Arriving at the site, a small walkway guides guests to a viewing area built into the side of a small hill, forming a natural amphitheatre and remaining almost entirely hidden from the road and other vantage points of Uluru. 

From there, food and beverages are served — we were treated to gin-infused cucumbers with green ants and celery salt, lemon myrtle crocodile curry pies, sweet potato and warrigal green flans. Beers from the indigenous-owned Jarrah Boy brewery went down a treat, as did a range of Australian wines and specially made cocktails. 

Then, once the sun drops below the horizon, the show starts. Drones ascend and light up the sky, sometimes illustrating the key figures in the Mala story or flowing and pulsing to evoke the emotion contained within the narration. We were left awestruck.

Cameron-Smith described the project as a “monumental effort” from the team at Voyages, RAMUS and the local Anangu.

“We believe it’ll be a great success but that depends on how the markets come back,” said Cameron-Smith. 

“We’re still not where we were from an inbound perspective and that’s aviation-driven. We all know that the airlines were so heavily impacted by COVID. The demand will come back, that’s the important bit. It will. We think that this is a reason to reappraise visitation or return. Our analysis would show that we’ve got a three- to five-year payback.”

Cameron-Smith explained that the business traditionally relies as much on inbound visitors as it does on domestic travellers. However, the show currently only exists in the local Pitjantjatjara language and English, though Voyages was exploring translations for overseas visitors. 

Jetstar and Qantas both routinely run flights to the Ayres Rock Airport, far closer than Alice Springs, which will likely make inbound tourists more likely to visit. Cameron-Smith said both airlines’ commitment to Central Australia was “fantastic” and that they were “firming up” flights from Cairns in 2024. 

The Wintjiri Wiru experience is live on the Voyages trade portal and is available for travel agents to book rooms and experiences — “that was an investment we made to make it easy for trade,” said Cameron-Smith.

Wintjiri Wiru, running twice every night from May until December each year and once per night during January and February, does not come cheap. The three-hour Sunset Dinner performance, including food and beverages, costs $385 per person. The shorter one-hour After Dark experience includes light refreshments only and costs $190 per person. 

But, believe us, it is well worth the money.