Ayers rock - Uluru

“This rock appear more wonderful every time I look at it”, noted William Gosse, who in 1873 became the first non-aboriginal person ever to set foot on the monolith. Gosse scrambled to the 1,142 ft summit of the giant sandstone hummock in the desert and named it Ayers Rock after the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. But the Pitjantjara and Yankunytjatjara people, the Aboriginals who had been caring for the Rock and its surrounding lands for at least 20,000 years, knew it as Ulururu, harbourer of ancient stories and sacred places. You can still climb to the top of Uluru. Its Pitjiantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara owners – Anangu “the people”, as they themselves – don’t forbid you. But they would rather you didn’t, as a matter respect, an large notices requestin visitor not to undertake the climb are in evidence at the car park. The land is now Uluru-kata Tjuta National Park was created by the Tjukuritja. In their travels they left marks in the land and made laws for us to keep and live by. We hope that, during your visit, you will learn about some of the creation ancestors and some of the law and culture. Please respect this knowledge and open your minds and hearts so you can really appreciate this culture. Mani visitors consier climbing Uluru to be a highlight of a trip; for the Anangu, the path is sacred (the path of ancestral Mala men) and the aboriginal people ask that you don’t climb it. This respect should also be extended to the stones littering the ground around the rock.

The Monolith is 3,6 km long and rises 348 m from the surrounding sandy scrubland (867 in above sea leel). During the afternoon it appears ochre-brown colour, scored and pitted by dark shadows. As the sunset, it illuminates the rock in burnished orange, the a series of deeper and darker reds before it fades into characoal.

Aborigenal painting