Nicole Kidman’s Secret Obsession: Australia’s Outback
“I’m enraptured by it,” said Nicole Kidman, describing Uluru, one of the most iconic locations in Australia. “I’ve always been drawn to the landscape, and I do think there’s something… the energy and the light… it’s just a very, very magical, special place.”
Vogue Australia recently photographed the actress at the World Heritage, also known as Ayer’s Rock, in Australia’s Outback. Yahoo Travel was given an exclusive look at her visit with her daughters, which included a stay at Sails in the Desert, a spectacular tented hotel.
Nicole Kidman, with Uluru in the distance. (Photo: Will Davidson/Vogue Australia)
During her visit, Kidman was also invited to participate in a sacred Anangu women’s ceremony called an Inma. During this ceremony, elders teach young girls Tjukurpa, a Pitjantjatjara word that loosely translates to culture and ancestry. They pass the knowledge of their culture through stories, song, and dance.
Here’s what Kidman had to say about the transformative experience.
Related: 350-Million-Year-Old Salt Lakes and Fool-Uru: Australian Outback’s Other Wonders
Kidman, participating in a ceremony with the Anangu women. (Photo: Will Davidson/Vogue Australia)
On bringing her girls to Uluru and participating in this sacred ceremony:
“I’m really trying to give my girls a sense of purpose in the world, because they are very privileged little girls, and so part of their job is finding how they can be philanthropic, even at this age, and how they can be involved and have compassion and be colour blind and all of those things,” Kidman says.
Kidman shared with the Anangu women the story of how her daughter Sunny was conceived after she swam in an Aboriginal waterhole in the Kimberley while she filmed the movie Australia several years ago.
“So that’s why I brought my babies with me … I’m very grateful and feel very connected (to the land). That’s why it’s very beautiful for me and for us to be invited here and for her to dance with your children, we feel very connected, so thank you,”
A behind-the-scenes image from the shoot. (Photo: Vogue Australia)
Kidman, who has worked with women in Haiti through her humanitarian work with UN Women, says she wants to help the Anangu women educate the rest of the world about the work they are doing on their homelands in central Australia.
“The constant need is to keep educating – and keep educating our young, as the NPY Women’s Council says,” Kidman says. “So that we all stay in a place of compassion and giving, otherwise nothing is going to change. And I want to believe that things can change and I want to believe that we can do it.
Related: G'Day Mate! How To Speak Australian
Kidman, walking toward Uluru. (Photo: Will Davidson/Vogue Australia)
Kidman talked about travel and the Aboriginal people:
“I’ve traveled to many different places, and the need to educate people and to keep people aware of what’s going on for Aboriginal women and children … is so important and when you see what they are doing,” she says.
And she also expressed her feelings about passing along stories:
“And as they say, you’ve got to pass it on (their stories) and if you don’t then it dies with them and that’s not good — you really feel the strength of that and the desire to keep that culture alive. I really think it is so alluring.”
For more on travel to Australia, head to australia.com.
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