Photo: Kata Tjuta, Northern Territory, Australia
Ayers Rock (Uluru) and The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) reassumed their traditional names in 1993, eight years after the area was returned to the hands of its traditional owners – the local Pitjantjatjara people. Uluru-Kata Tjuta is in Australia’s Northern Territory approximately 450km South West of Alice Springs, it was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987. When ownership of the land was transferred from the Australian government to the Aboriginal people in 1985 it was on the condition that it would be leased back to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for a period of 99 years.
Despite the prevalence of literature and even a sign erected at the foot of Uluru by the local Pitjantjatjara people requesting tourists not to climb the rock, a steady stream of minga tjuta – ‘ants’ as they are referred to by the Pitjantjatjara people – continue to navigate their route to the summit via a safety chain put in place by the Australian National Park Service. Climbing the rock has never been formally outlawed and although promised by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1983, it was made a condition of the land transfer two years later that it be allowed.
Visit the Cultural Centre
The Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre is located about 1km from Uluru and is packed with multilingual displays, videos, and exhibitions. There is excellent information and resources of the surrounding area’s geology and history, it is a must-do before exploring the rock. I visited Uluru back in 2000 as part of a small group tour with Wayoutback that I picked up in Alice Springs. After spending several days exploring the MacDonnell ranges and the area around Alice Springs I became increasingly fascinated by Aboriginal culture and the struggles that exist in modern times with two very different cultures living side by side. Nowhere more than here is it possible to empathise with the Aborigine’s sense of invasion and subjugation and to witness the frustration of an older generation watching their traditions fade.
Travel Overland from Alice Springs
The tour I took from Alice Springs also made stops at the equally impressive Watarrka and Kata Tjuta before arriving at Uluru, and it was this background experience and growing empathy that encouraged me to take a more spiritual and considerate approach to Uluru when I finally arrived. As a result I wonder whether another precious piece of cultural heritage has moved on too far in the tourist development lifecycle. The nearby development of Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara and the neighbouring airport has undoubtedly removed the necessity to make the educational journey to Uluru over land. In a lifecycle played out all over the world that pushes towards access to tourist sites for the mass market the very essence of an attraction is gradually destroyed. Do we push the development of these tourist attractions so far that they eventually lose all sanctity and appeal?
[...] Battered & Bruised Uluru [...]