Is climbing Ayers Rock on your bucket list? Should it even be on a bucket list? Debate is raging in Australia about whether to close the Red Rock to climbing tourists altogether.
Tourists looking to climb the Big Red Rock of Australia may soon have to put away their hiking shoes, as the Australian government considers closing the site to adventure-seeking climbers.
Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, juts out of the rusty coloured earth close to the Red Centre of Australia in Northern Territory, and, along with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is one of Australia’s most recognized symbols. But while you can do a heart-stopping climb along the steely edge of the bridge, access to climbing Uluru could be halted for tourists within the next two years.
Technically, climbing Uluru is currently not prohibited, although it has long been debatable whether youshould climb the site.
The 348-metre-high rock and surrounding land is sacred to the Anangu people, who have been the traditional landowners of this area for tens of thousands of years. Uluru was returned to the Anangu in 1985 by the Australian government and then leased back to the National Parks agency for 99 years. But while it may be on park property, the Anangu request visitors respect their laws and cultures and not climb Uluru. Also, since 1958, 36 people have died while attempting to climb the iconic sandstone monolith.
It raises questions between the push and pull between cultural sensitivity and tourism. Let’s be clear: Uluru isn’t a Disneyfied version of a mountain climb. The rock, a World Heritage site, is surrounded by desert, trees and a low rising cultural centre that blends into its surroundings.
In 2010, environmental minister Peter Garrett (former lead singer of Midnight Oil) approved a 10-year plan to close climbing access to Uluru, “for visitor’s safety, cultural and environmental reasons.” And many people have already chosen to reject climbing the site: a recent survey shows the number of climbers has plummeted in the last two decades—from 74% in 1990 to the 20% threshold in 2012.
Now that fewer visitors are assending Uluru, will Parks Australia implement their plan to close the rock altogether to climbers?
“You can’t go climb on top of the Vatican, you can’t go climb on top of the Buddhist temples,” Vince Forrester, an elder of the Mutitjulu community and one of the rock’s traditional custodians, recently told ABC News. “Obviously you have to respect our religious attachment to the land too, so we’re saying please do not climb Uluru.”
Meanwhile, kicking any cultural sensitivity aside, Greg Hunt, an Australian environmental spokesperson, was quoted as saying, “Big Brother is coming to Uluru to slam the gate closed on an Australian tourism icon, the climb.”
Although climbing Uluru is actively discouraged by the Anangu and the number of visitors making the climb is dwindling significantly, last month Jetstar opened up direct flights from Sydney to Ayres Rock, making Uluru even more accessible to tourists. In addition, over half the local tour operators offer climbs to visitors.
According to Parks Australia, tourism operators would be fully consulted and alternative activities in place before Uluru is closed for climbing.
But not all Australians agree with closing down access to the rock. “Uluru is a national icon and major tourist destination that belongs to all Australians,” said one tourist. “It’s a bloody long way to go if you can’t enjoy the challenge and/or exhilaration of getting to the top.”
Meanwhile, the Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park Cultural Centre makes it clear to visitors what Uluru means to the indigenous people and how it should be treated:
That’s a really important sacred thing that you are climbing… You shouldn’t climb. It’s not the real thing about this place.
And maybe that makes you a bit sad. But anyway that’s what we have to say. We are obliged by Tjukurpa to say. And all the tourists will brighten up and say, ‘Oh I see. This is the right way. This is the thing that’s right. This is the proper way: no climbing.
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