Using travel times from explosive sources recorded at distances less than 36 km, evidence for P-wave anisotropy was obtained in an area of central Australia where granulite facies rocks from the lower crust are exposed at the surface; these rocks form the hanging wall of one of the most prominent ancient thrust structures seen anywhere in a continental interior. The azimuthal variation in seismic velocity for rocks at depths less than about 1 km is about 5%, and is comparable in magnitude to values reported for both continental and oceanic upper mantle. The maximum velocity (east-west) is parallel to the predominant strike direction of gneissic foliation observed in outcrop in the survey region, which was produced during granulite facies metamorphism at about 1,800 Ma. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990