Uluru

Uluru is a massive sandstone rock in central Australia that is sacred to the Aborigines of the area, who are known as the Anangu. In recent years, Uluru has also become important for New Age practitioners.

Believed to have been formed by the activities of ancestral beings in creation time (or Dreamtime), the beautiful site includes many caves, waterholes, and ancient rock paintings. Uluru is the traditional name for the rock, Ayers Rock is the name given by European explorers, and Uluru/Ayers Rock is the official name.

Australia's native people believe themselves to be direct descendents of these ancestral beings, and continue to carry on the rituals and responsibilities associated with their ancestral land.

The aboriginals of western and central Australia call themselves Anangu, a word that originally meant simply "human being" but has come to refer to aboriginals (especially in western and central Australia) as opposed to Australia's European descendents. The Uluru-area Anangu include two different language groups, the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara.

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 October 1872, the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-native person to see the rock formation. He saw it only from a distance, prevented by a lake from approaching closer.

On July 19, 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited the rock and named it Ayers Rock in honor of the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.

The Aboriginal name was first recorded by the Wills expedition in 1903. Since 1903, both names for the site have been used, although Ayers Rock was the most common name used by outsiders until recently.

In December 1993, the site was officially renamed “Ayers Rock/Uluru.” The order of the names was officially reversed to “Uluru/Ayers Rock” in November 2002, following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.

On October 26, 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru 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 rock and the surrounding park were designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Uluru is an isolated sandstone rock (not technically a monolith) that stands 346 meters high and more than 8 km (5 miles) around. Roughly triangular in shape, it stretches for over 2 miles in length and nearly 2 miles in width. It has a harder exterior than most other rock formations, which allows for the unusually steep rock faces all the way to ground level.

Uluru is a completely bare rock without the least bit of vegetation, which only adds to its stark and mysterious beauty. By great contrast, however, the base of the rock is nourished by rain runoff from Uluru and is a fertile oasis of water pools, rich greenery and a variety of wildlife. It is thus an ideal ceremonial site for the Aborigines, who camp in the caves and are sustained by the water and available food.

Aside from its imposing size the most impressive feature of Uluru, beloved by Aborigines and visitors alike, is its beautiful range of changing colors throughout the day and year. Sunrise and sunset are particularly remarkable, with the rock glowing a deep rusty red. The rock derives its rust colour from oxidation, and the glowing effect at sunrise and sunset is due to the arkosic sandstone of the rock, which contains reflective minerals and changes color according to the attitude of the sun.

Ayers Rock contains a variety of interesting cracks, canyons, caves and natural formations, all of which the Anangu attribute to the activities of ancestral beings at the creation time. The shallow caves at the base of the rock contain ancient carvings and paintings. But unlike the Lascaux Caves and other cave art sites, the Uluru rock drawings are just not artifacts of some distant culture — they are still being created by the Anangu.

At Uluru, the old cave drawings are simply painted over with new ones, and the paint is made largely of water and is therefore quite delicate. For these reasons, the rock art in these caves is impossible to date with any certainty. The rock art includes figures like boomerangs, human beings, waterholes and abstract symbols.

The base walk around the perimeter of Uluru is 9.4 km long. There is also a Mala Walk (2 km) and Mutitjulu walk (1 km). Guided walking tours are available from park rangers and by the Anangu themselves. These are popular activities and are encouraged by the Anangu. However, the most popular thing to do at Uluru is to climb it (see Making the Climb, below).

About 25 km from Uluru is another sacred rock formation known as Kata Tjuta (“many heads”) or the Olgas (named for Queen Olga of Württemberg in 1872). Special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park also includes a Cultural Center, where you can learn more about Aboriginal culture and the sacredness of Uluru.

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. Ayers Rock Resort just outside the park has accommodation for a wide range of budgets. The buildings of the tourist resort are colored to blend in with the surrounding desert.