Uluru

Uluru Gallery

Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock or simply The Rock) is a large monolith located in Central Australia within the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, about 400 km southwest of Alice Springs. The monolith is about 320 metres high and 8 km in circumference, and extends approximately 2.5 km into the ground below the surface. It is the second largest monolith in the world after Mount Augustus, also found in Australia.

Mutitjulu, an Aboriginal community, is located at the western end of Uluru. It is about 21km from Uluru to the tourist town of Yulara, which has a population of 3000 and is situated just outside of Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park itself.

Uluru is famous for changing colour and appearance as the light strikes it at different angles throughout the day and year ... sunset is a particularly remarkable sight! Uluru is made of sandstone infused with minerals like feldspar that reflect the red light of sunrise and sunset, making it appear to glow. The rust color is the result of oxidation.

Uluru is sacred to local indigenous people and has many varied springs, waterholes, rock caves and other features that figure prominently in dreamtime stories for the area. The word Uluru is a Pitjantjatjara name used by local indigenous people. European settlers named the rock Ayers Rock after the Premier of South Australia, Henry Ayers, but Uluru has been the officially preferred name since the 1980's. Nevertheless, many people still commonly refer to the rock as Ayers Rock.

Climbing Uluru

Uluru's traditional owners prefer that visitors respect the sacred status of Uluru by not climbing the rock, and signs to this effect are posted around Uluru. They are unable to prohibit climbing, however, and so climbing Uluru remains a popular attraction for many tourists. A rope handhold makes the climb easier, but it is still a long, steep climb to the top. Many climbers give up before reaching the summit, and there are several deaths a year as a direct result of climbing Uluru, mainly from heart failure.

Uluru History

The infant Azaria Chamberlain disappeared while her family were camping near Uluru. Her mother Lindy Chamberlain claim that Azaria was taken by a dingo led to the most widely publicised legal trial in Australian history.

Legal ownership of Uluru was returned to the local Aboriginal people, the Anangu or Pitjantjatjara people, by the Australian Government on 26 October 1985. Uluru was then leased by the traditional owners to the Government as a National Park for 99 years.