The Devil’s Marbles (Karlu Karlu) is an important sacred site of the local Warumungu people. It is 100 killometres south of Tennant Creek just off the highway. Karlu Karlu means many round boulders and there are literally hundreds strewn around 18 square killometres of red desert. The Dreamtime legend is that Arrange (pronounced Ar-rang-ge), the devil man, travelled through the area making a hair belt. The clusters of hair he dropped became boulders. Then, in 1870, explorer John Ross passed through and even though he knew nothing of the Aboriginal legend, wrote “This is the devil’s country; he’s even emptied his bag of marbles around the place”. The area is certianly stunningly beautiful, particularly at dawn and dusk. GH
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