After more than a decade, a vision to build a giant cross in a remote Aboriginal community in Central Australia has become a reality. First proposed in 2009 by residents of Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji), 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs, the 20-metre-high, multi-million-dollar steel monument has been erected atop Memory Mountain.
Bishop Philip Huggins writes on the eve of the Federal Election for year 2025 and imagines a waiting for a sacred interweaving of the sacrifice of Anzac and the Indigenous spirituality that is incarnational and includes the Christian Cross. The highways and byways somewhat resembling the 40 years wandering in the desert by Moses and his tribe suggests an Exodus toward self-awareness.
Indigenous elders received a divine vision of a Cross at the centre of our continent. They shared this vision. Others honoured it with them, and by 2023 the Cross was up, as pictured below. It is on ‘Kurrkalnga Puli’ (in local Luritja language) – also known as Memory Mountain.
The location is almost the exact geographical centre of mainland Australia. Nestled in the Far West MacDonnell Ranges, 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs, we are invited to ask why did the Creator give such a vision to these faithful souls? A vision given with such transcendent reality that they felt compelled to obey.
You can see the incarnation of this vision.
What we do know is that this vision ‘ignited a passion within the local people to share their land, their culture, and traditions and their creativity with the world.’
They welcome us to visit with the same generosity of spirit that motivates every ‘Welcome to Country.’
Aunty Joy Murphy is loved and respected by all those I know in our multifaith Victorian community. We know the gracious and courageous way she has dealt with adversities.
Hence, it was beyond sad to see her hurt after that “miscommunication” at the Anzac Day NRL game.
We have seen thereafter what we have seen. Commemoration of the sacrifice of our defence forces deserve respect. The analysis continues as the Federal Election approaches. It is unhappy reading.
Meanwhile,beyond the noise of those desperate for political power [who might make even Machiavelli cringe with embarrassment as they say and do whatever it takes], there lies a deep truth.
Healing the wounds of history needs a lot of love. It needs a readiness to go on this pilgrimage together, with the God of love.
Stan Grant’s murriyang:song of time is, in this context, so inspirational and necessary.
He knows the place where his Wiradjuri and Christian life are seamlessly at one in the God of love.
People like Stan, with hard won truth, can be our guides into a better future together. Perhaps we can become a holy people, humble and kind.
Stan writes:
Our tradition is older than Christianity and Christ is older than Christianity.Christ is God made human-all humanity in the divine-and He is beyond time.God is the eternal presence-existence from existence..I like what Pope Benedict wrote,that ‘tribal religions are expectant religions’,awaiting the encounter with the light of Christ and -this is even more beautiful-Christ is waiting for us.Christ is how I know that Wiradjuri belief in God is the truth.Anyone asking how I can be a Christian and Aboriginal does not know us at all.God is love..”[p.19]
This beautiful truth is what we are invited to live into… together…
I can imagine the walk up to this 20-metre-high cross becoming a completing place for an Australian Camino pilgrimage.
It was Sister Veronica Brady who first helped me understand how this land had been prayed in for those thousands of years before folk ventured here from the Northern Hemisphere.
This ‘larrikin angel,’ as she was known, died ten years ago. Sister Veronica was once asked, by an earnest interviewer, what she thought would happen when she reached heaven.
She thought she might be asked, ‘Did you have a good time?’
Such a wonderful simplifying response!
Helping each other have a good time, in the gift of life on this beautiful planet in a vast universe, goes to the heart of a helpful faith.
It goes to the essence of our ‘fair go’ traditions. It helps us recover the universality of the symbol of the empty cross:
That the Creator of all that is, conveys in Jesus, life, death, and resurrection, how our gift of earthly life is to be lived lovingly with one another.
Hence the empty cross conveys the hope and divine plan that everyone should ‘have a good time’ this side of eternity.
In our meditations, Fr. Laurence Freeman has recently conveyed some insights of Simone Weil about the Art of Waiting.
God is understood as ‘attention without distraction.’ Accordingly, our contemplative lives, on the pilgrimage of faith, humbly involve seeking to be fully attentive to the divine presence.
… We are still living into the meaning of that vision which was given to faithful and attentive indigenous elders…
Why is that Cross in the centre of our continent?
With guides like Stan Grant maybe we can explore the answer. The recent days of the Federal Election campaign underscore how imperative this is.
Perhaps in the coming months, some of us might go to the foot of that Cross… Be there together with local folk, just to wait, watch and listen.
We know we will be welcomed, and that is already a beautiful start.
Bishop Philip Huggins
Adjunct Professional, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture,
Member Religions for Peace Australia
2 May 2025