Editing Uluru (section)

====Mala story====
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One of the major stories associated with Uluru is the Mala story. In this, the Mala ([[rufous hare-wallaby]]) people came from the north, and decided to stay at Uluru for a while, and perform the ceremony known as [[inma]]. The men decorated and raised the ceremonial pole (''Ngaltawata'') and began inma, while the women gathered and prepared [[bush food]], storing seed cakes (''nyuma'') in their caves. The men hunted, made fires, and fixed their tools and weapons. Two Wintalka men approached from the west, and invited the Mala people to attend their inma, but the Mala people declined the invitation, as their inma had begun and could not be stopped. The Wintalka men went back and told their people, who got angry and created an evil spirit, in the form of an enormous devil-dog called Kurpany, in order to wreck the Mala inma. Kurpany approached the Mala people, changing form as he did so, including taking the form of a ghost (''mamu''). Luunpa (the [[kingfisher]] woman) spied him first, and warned the Mala people; however, they did not listen to her. Kurpany attacked and killed some of the men, and the remaining Mala people fled southwards, into what is now the state of [[South Australia]], with Kurpany in pursuit. This story continues among the Indigenous peoples of South Australia.<ref name=malastory>{{cite web | title=The Mala story | website=Parks Australia | url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/discover/culture/stories/mala-story/ | access-date=3 February 2023}}</ref>

Aṉangu believe that the ancestors still exist at Uluru today. Luunpa, now a large rock, keeps watch, while the men killed by Kurpany are still in their cave. Kurpany's footprints, heading eastwards and southwards, are still in the rock. The teaching from this story is that people need to heed warnings of danger, and to finish what they have begun.<ref name=malastory/>