After Field of Light, the Red Centre has a new light display

It’s home to some of Australia’s most magnificent landscapes and now tourism heads hope that an ambitious new art installation will shine a fresh light, both nationally and globally, on the Red Centre’s Kings Canyon.

While the area is certainly remote – a five-hour drive from Alice Springs and four hours from Uluru – they predict that British-Australian artist Bruce Munro’s new artwork Light Towers will do for the spot what his earlier work, the Field of Light, has done for Uluru.

“It’s an absolutely amazing sight,” says Lahnee White, of the G’Day Group, which has just invested $20 million into the Kings Canyon Resort. “This part of the world is already one of the most magical places in the world, but now the Light Towers will provide an additional reason for travellers to come and experience the Red Centre.

Towers of Light at Kings Canyon - the installation emits an “otherworldly singing”.

“It really captures your imagination in such a new and unique way, I think it’ll prove a huge draw to visitors.”

The Light Towers consists of 69 two-metre turrets scattered throughout a field of red dirt in the Watarrka National Park looking out over the spectacular Carmichaels Crag and George Gill Range.

With each one made up of 216 recycled bottles lit by solar and pulsating as their colours gradually change from purples to pinks to blues, reds, yellows and greens, they also emit a strange, otherworldly singing.

Visitors wander through the maze of light towers, glowing against the ochre of the desert and the black of the night sky, as the songs and languages merge with each other, then separate, then mix and mingle again.

The Kings Canyon Towers of Light in the daytime.Credit: Suppied

The first idea for the installation came to artist Munro when he was 21 – 42 years ago – and read a book by anthropologist Lyall Watson about life on a remote Indonesian island where people could see in both colour and sound, and believed the Earth had a natural pulse of 69 beats a day. He created a similar installation in Pennsylvania in the US in 2012 and adapted it for Kings Canyon.

“So it wasn’t created from Kings Canyon in the same way as the Field of Light was designed specifically for Uluru,” Munro said at the installation’s launch on March 30. “But I first visited Kings Canyon in 1992 and was stunned by the beauty of the landscape.

“Then when I was asked if I’d like to do a light installation here, I jumped at the chance and thought this would be the perfect idea for it. I see the Red Centre being the heart of Australia, a place that makes everyone feel joyful and spiritually uplifted, and I wanted to give that a language that people could respond to.”

Light Towers at Discovery Resorts – Kings Canyon is open for three viewings a day, at sunrise, sunset and during the evening. See discoveryholidayparks.com.au/kings-canyon

Sue Williams was a guest of the Kings Canyon Resort.