Uluru

Uluru in the evening

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation located in the Northern Territory of central Australia. It is found in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 440 km southwest of Alice Springs. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area. It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site for its natural and man-made attributes. It is one of Australia's best known natural wonders and tourist sites.

Name

Uluru’s location relative to other places in Australia

The local Pitjantjatjara people call the landmark Uluṟu (IPA: /uluɻu/). This word has no other meaning in Pitjantjatjara, but it is a local family name. The underlined ṟ in Uluṟu is a retroflex approximant, as used by some American English speakers.

In October 1872 the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-indigenous person to sight the rock formation. He saw it from a considerable distance, and was prevented by Lake Amadeus from approaching closer. He described it as “the remarkable pebble”. On 19 July, 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited the rock and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. The Aboriginal name was first recorded by the Wills expedition in 1903. Since then, both names have been used, although Ayers Rock was the most common name used by outsiders until recently.

In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names that consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. On 15 December 1993, it was renamed “Ayers Rock/Uluru” and became the first officially dual named feature in the Northern Territory. The order of the dual names was officially reversed to “Uluru/Ayers Rock” on 6 November 2002 following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.

Description

Uluru is 346 metres high, more than 8 km (five miles) around, and has a harder exterior than many comparable rock formations. This has prevented the formation of scree slopes, resulting in the unusually steep faces near ground level.

Uluru is an inselberg, formed after surrounding soft rock eroded, leaving the mass of more resistant rock standing prominently above the surface. Uluru is often referred to as a monolith, and for many years it was even listed in record books as the world’s largest monolith. That description is inaccurate, as it is part of a much larger underground rock formation.

Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight. The rock is made of arkosic sandstone infused with minerals like feldspar that reflect the red light of sunrise and sunset, making it appear to glow. The rock gets its rust colour from oxidation.

Rainfall is uncommon in the area around Uluru, but during wet periods the rock acquires a silvery-grey colour, with streaks of black algae on the areas serving as channels for water flow. The rock itself is completely lacking in vegetation, but due to runoff the base is surrounded by water pools, fertile greenery, and wildlife. It has thus been an ideal meeting place for Aboriginal ceremonies throughout history.

Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, literally meaning “many heads” owing to its peculiar formation, is another rock formation about 25 km from Uluru. Special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk. A common mistake is to include Kata Tjuta as part of the Uluru formation, but it is in fact made of a different material (conglomerate).

Panoramic view of sunset at Uluru.

History

The beginning of human settlement in the Uluru region has not been determined, but archaeological findings to the east and west indicate a date more than 10,000 years ago. In 1920, the Northern Territory administration gazetted the south-west corner of the territory, including Uluru, as the Petermann Aboriginal reserve, thus preventing the expansion of pastoral leases into that area. However, Uluru and Kata Tjuta were excised from the reserve in 1958 with the intention of opening them up to tourism.

On 26 October 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluṟu to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines, with one of the conditions being that the Anangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed. The Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu (pop. approx. 300) is near the western end of Uluru. From Uluru it is 17 km by road to the tourist town of Yulara (pop. 3,000), which is situated just outside of the National Park.

Legends

A variety of Aborigine legends account for the existence of Uluru and its many cracks and fissures. One tells of serpent beings who waged many wars around Uluṟu, scarring the rock. Another myth recounts that two tribes of ancestral spirits were invited to a feast, but were distracted by the beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and did not show up. In response, the angry hosts sang evil into a mud sculpture that came to life as the dingo. There followed a great battle, which ended in the deaths of the leaders of both tribes. The earth itself rose up in grief at the bloodshed — this is Uluru.

Restrictions for tourists

Climbing Uluru

Climbers and warning sign

The local Anangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance. They request that visitors not climb the rock, partly due to the path crossing a sacred traditional dreaming track, and also a sense of responsibility for the safety of visitors to their land. The Anangu have a spiritual connection to Uluru, and feel great sadness when a person dies or is injured whilst climbing. In 1983, then Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke promised to forbid climbing, but access to climb Uluru was made a condition before title was officially given back to the traditional owners.

Climbing Uluru is a popular attraction for visitors. A chain handhold added in 1964 and extended in 1976 makes the hour long climb easier, but it is still a long (800 metres) and steep hike to the top, where it can be quite windy. An above average level of fitness, and a high tolerance to the extreme hot desert conditions is required. Over the years there have been at least forty deaths, mainly due to heart failure whilst climbing Uluru, as well as non-fatal heart attacks and other injuries.

Photographing Uluru

The Anangu also request that visitors not photograph certain sections of Uluru, for reasons related to traditional beliefs (called tjukurpa). These sections are the sites of gender-linked rituals, and are forbidden ground for Anangu of the opposite sex of those participating in the rituals in question. The photographic ban is intended to prevent Anangu from inadvertently violating this taboo by encountering photographs of the forbidden sites in the outside world.

Historical photographs of these formations continue to circulate through the world population at large. Signs have been posted around the restricted areas, to ensure that visitors will not violate the ban by mistake.

Superstitions

It is often reported that those who take rocks from the area will be cursed and suffer misfortune. [1]

References

Sunrise at Uluru

• Breeden, Stanley. 1994. Uluru: Looking after Uluru-Kata Tjuta - The Anangu Way. Simon & Schuster Australia, East Roseville, Sydney. Reprint: 2000.
• Hill, Barry. The Rock: Travelling to Uluru. Allen & Unwin, St, Leonards, Sydney. ISBN 1-86373-778-2; ISBN 1-86373-712-X (pbk.)
• Mountford, Charles P. 1965. AYERS ROCK: Its People, Their Beliefs and Their Art. Angus & Robertson. Amended reprint: Seal Books, 1977. ISBN 0-7270-0215-5.

External links

• Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park Australian Government (Federal) Department of Environment and Heritage
• Uluru Northern Territory Government State Tourism Authority
• Uluru/Ayers Rock Sacred Destinations
• Uluru’s geology - Dr Karl Kruszelnicki