Uluru might have been around for about 550 million years – but it's taken until November 2019 for the first significant opera performance to be staged at the nation's majestic red centre, by Opera Australia.

Last weekend, more than 750 people took their seats in outdoor white chairs arranged on the desert floor – next to the Field of Light art installation comprising thousands of solar-lit bulbs – to hear 14 arias and the overture from William Tell during the two-hour inaugural Uluru Opera Gala performance.