The Anangu do not claim to own Uluru. They describe themselves as its caretakers, a distinction that carries deep philosophical weight. For decades, the monolith was controlled by non-Aboriginal Australians. Motels were built close by. The traditional owners who had been pushed out returned and settled at Mutitjulu, working patiently toward restoring their land rights. On 26 October 1985, title to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was formally handed back. Tourist facilities were relocated 24 kilometers north to Yulara, outside the park boundary. Today the Anangu jointly manage the park with Parks Australia, and Mutitjulu's residents run guided tours that share Tjukurpa, the complex system of law, knowledge, and story that gives Uluru its meaning.

Maruku Arts and Crafts operates from a warehouse in Mutitjulu with a retail gallery at the national park's Cultural Centre and a market stall in Yulara's town square. Since around 1990, this Aboriginal-owned enterprise has grown into a collective of roughly 900 artists from remote communities across central Australia, producing paintings and woodcarvings that provide vital income in places where economic opportunities are scarce. In May 2017, Maruku artists created the artwork surrounding the signatures on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a landmark document calling for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians. Led by Rene Kulitja and painted by Christine Brumby, Charmaine Kulitja, and Happy Reid, that artwork was later recreated as an immersive light installation at the Parrtjima festival in Alice Springs in April 2023.

Walk through Mutitjulu and you might hear Pitjantjatjara, Luritja, or Yankunytjatjara, sometimes all within a single conversation. Most residents speak several of these languages fluently, which is less remarkable than it sounds: all three are closely related varieties of the Western Desert Language, mutually intelligible to their speakers. The majority of the community is Pitjantjatjara, though Yankunytjatjara, Luritja, Ngaanyatjarra, and Arrernte people all maintain traditional connections to this place. English is spoken here more widely than in many Indigenous communities, a consequence of daily exposure to the tourists who come to see Uluru. But the priority is keeping traditional languages strong. At the local school, students attend from Year 1 through Year 7. When they reach adolescence, cultural traditions dictate that boys and girls be educated separately, and Nyangatjatjara College hosts them in consecutive semesters.

For years, signs at the base of Uluru carried a request from the local Indigenous community: please do not climb the rock. Posted in late 1989, the signs asked visitors to respect a sacred site. Many climbed anyway. In 2017, the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park board voted unanimously to ban climbing altogether, effective 26 October 2019, exactly 34 years after the land was handed back. The date was deliberate. The decision was not about tourism management or safety, though both factored in. It was about a community asserting that some places carry meanings that matter more than a visitor's desire to stand on top of them. Despite the ban, Mutitjulu's economy still depends heavily on tourism at Uluru and nearby Yulara, even though only a small proportion of that revenue flows back to the community. By most measures, Mutitjulu remains no wealthier than other remote Indigenous communities in Australia.

Not everything in Mutitjulu is ancient. The Mutitjulu Band, led by Kimberley Taylor and David Honeymoon, represents a newer creative thread. They have performed at the Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs and at NAIDOC events, eventually recording songs at ABC's studios in Sydney. Their growing popularity is one more expression of a community that, despite its remoteness and the challenges it faces in education, housing, and health, continues to produce culture that reaches far beyond the desert. From the waterhole that gave the settlement its name to the art that adorns a constitutional statement, Mutitjulu's influence extends well past its population of a few hundred. It is a small place with an outsized claim on Australia's conscience.