🪨 Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles)
Australia
About This Sacred Site
Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) is a collection of enormous granite boulders scattered across a shallow valley in the Northern Territory. Some balanced precariously atop one another, these rounded rocks — some as large as 6 meters across — are of profound spiritual significance to several Aboriginal groups, particularly the Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarre, and Warlpiri peoples. In Warumungu tradition, the boulders are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent, one of the most powerful creator beings in Aboriginal cosmology. The site has been a sacred meeting place, ceremonial ground, and Dreaming track crossing for thousands of generations. At sunrise and sunset, the granite glows a deep red, enhancing the spiritual atmosphere.
Key Facts
- •The Warumungu people believe the boulders are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent
- •Some boulders are over 6 meters in diameter and balance precariously on tiny points
- •Sacred to multiple Aboriginal groups including Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarre, and Warlpiri
- •Registered as a sacred site under the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act
- •The granite boulders were formed around 1.7 billion years ago
Location
Coordinates: -20.5667, 134.2667
Related Holy Sites
🪨Uluru (Ayers Rock)
A sacred monolith central to Aboriginal Australian creation stories.
🏔️Machu Picchu
A sacred Inca citadel set high in the Andes, aligned with astronomical events.
🌾Cahokia Mounds
The largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico, with massive ceremonial earth mounds.
🗻Devils Tower
A sacred monolith rising 867 feet from the Wyoming plains, revered by multiple Native tribes.
🦬Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
A sacred Indigenous site where Plains peoples conducted buffalo hunts for nearly 6,000 years.
🪨Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai'pi Provincial Park
The greatest concentration of Indigenous rock art on the Great Plains, sacred to the Blackfoot.