ABSTRACT
Since 1985 I have been working on the modern history of the Matopos mountains south of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.2 In December 1992 and January 1993 I was Alexander Visiting Professor at the University of Western Australia in Perth and I was able to read a good deal of recent work on Aboriginal history.3 One of the first things I read, of course, was Robert Layton’s study of Ayers Rock/Uluru.4 Like the Matopos, Uluru is at one and the same time an extraordinary rock formation, an icon of national identity, a major tourist attraction, and the site of struggle between black and white over possession, representation and control. I was eager to discover how closely comparable the modern history of these two southern spaces might turn out to be.
