A preliminary study of the host rock at the Harts Range ruby mine in the Arunta Block, central Australia, suggests that it is a layered anorthosite complex in contradiction of the metasedimentary, limestone‐terra rossa hypothesis of McColl & Warren (1979). The mineralogical, textural and structural evidence points to a meta‐igneous origin, and this compares well with other ruby‐bearing, Archaean, layered anorthosite complexes described from Greenland, India and elsewhere. This is the first report of a layered anorthosite in a high‐grade metamorphic terrain in the Australian Precambrian.