Australia's Uluru closes to climbers for good after decades-long fight

By Stefica Nicol Bikes

 

A view of Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, the day before a permanent ban on climbing the monolith takes effect following a decades-long fight by indigenous people to close the trek, near Yulara, Australia, October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefica Bikes

 

YULARA, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's Uluru officially closed to climbers for good on Friday, although the last visitors to scale the sacred rock were allowed to stay until sunset, as a permanent ban takes effect after a decades-long fight by indigenous people.

 

To commemorate the climbing ban, public celebrations will take place over the weekend when the dismantling of the trail and its railing is also expected to begin.

 

Earlier in the day, hundreds of tourists clambered up the UNESCO World Heritage-listed 348-metre (1,142-ft) monolith, formerly known as Ayers Rock.

 

Authorities had opened the climb mid-morning amid clear skies, after blustery conditions delayed early trekkers.

 

Uluru is a top tourist draw in Australia despite its remote desert location near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

 

While most visitors don't climb its steep, red-ochre flanks, the impending Oct. 26 ban has triggered a surge in people taking a final opportunity to make the trek.

 

Nearly 400,000 visitors flocked to the Australian landmark in the year to end-June, government data shows. Australians still make up the bulk of the visitors to climb the rock, followed by Japanese, Parks Australia says.

 

The Anangu people, the traditional owners of Uluru, have called for the climb to be closed since 1985, when the park was returned to indigenous control. The Anangu say Uluru has deep spiritual significance as a route their ancestors took.

 

"This is our home," read a sign at the base of the rock. "Please don't climb."

 

"It shows that Anangu can actually make decisions about the land they own and more importantly Anangu aren't going to have to get sad anymore," said Steven Baldwin, national park operations and visitor services manager.

 

"Whenever anybody gets sick, or injured, or worse on the climb, they get extremely sad, so this is an absolutely fantastic day for the park and fantastic for Anangu."

 

Sonita Vinecombe, a visitor from the Australian city of Adelaide who lined up early in the morning to make the trek, said she had mixed feelings.

 

"You want to respect the cultural side of things, but still you want to have it as a challenge to get up the rock," she told Reuters.

 

American tourist Kathleen Kostroski said she would not climb because it would be "sacrilegious" to do so.

 

One of the last climbers, Jason Dudas from Las Vegas, said: "Well, I know there's a big controversy on the hike, and I respect the First Nations here, but since it was an optional thing to do, I decided to do it and now that it's officially closed, I won't be hiking it anymore."

 

Dozens of people have died while climbing Uluru, from falls and dehydration. Summer temperatures often top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

The closure was announced two years ago when fewer than 20 percent of visitors were making the climb.

 

It was an emotional day, said indigenous ranger Tijiangu Thomas.

 

"Happiness is the majority feeling, knowing that people are no longer going to be disrespecting the rock and the culture - and being safe."

 

The Oct. 26 closure marks 34 years since the land was given back to the Anangu people, an important moment in the struggle by indigenous groups to retrieve their homelands.

 

(Reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes in Yulara; Writing by Swati Pandey and Jonathan Barrett; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Clarence Fernandez, Hugh Lawson and Giles Elgood)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-26

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When it comes to receiving welfare the indigenous have no issues in taking it as all Australians eligible do. But on other matters “it’s our land”. Two face hypocrites.


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I predict that in a short time a "select" number of tourists will be allowed access after they have made a sufficient cultural donation the the head honcho ????

Well its there land so they van decide what to do with it.

 

Personnally I would never fly for hours then drive for hours to see a rock.

Enjoyed climbing this very much when it was still Ayers Rock.  Challenging and greatly rewarding.  I would not have gone had I not been able to climb.  Be interesting to see how tourism numbers are affected..

10 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Enjoyed climbing this very much when it was still Ayers Rock.  Challenging and greatly rewarding.  I would not have gone had I not been able to climb.  Be interesting to see how tourism numbers are affected..

For overseas visitors i dont think they understand that flying into alice springs doesnt put them on thr rocks doorstep.

Should never have given it to people who did not believe in land ownership anyway

13 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Should never have given it to people who did not believe in land ownership anyway

It was taken from them and then returned. Native title is recognised under Australian law and even the conservatives are on board with it. Took them 20 years though.
 

It’s their land and they can do whatever the bloody well please. 

Not taken from them as they never recognized land owner ship until the white man turned up. They will do nothing with it of course like they did nothing with anything for 20,000 years. Apart from fire and stick throwing they progressed only to child like painting and story telling, not a culture to bow down to or accommodate IMO. There was never a glorious aboriginal culture, and never will be.

8 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Not taken from them as they never recognized land owner ship until the white man turned up. They will do nothing with it of course like they did nothing with anything for 20,000 years. Apart from fire and stick throwing they progressed only to child like painting and story telling, not a culture to bow down to or accommodate IMO. There was never a glorious aboriginal culture, and never will be.

Fortunately, the high court and the federal parliament disagrees with you.  

7 hours ago, jack7106 said:

Welcome to integration and multiculturalism Australian style ????????‍♂️
 

Once the tourism dollars dry up, they yet again will be first in line for the Australian taxpayer welfare handouts.

 

There is actual reverse discrimination against all races except aboriginal and Torres straight Islanders when it comes to receiving welfare – FACT????????

 

an example :-

 

Any non-aboriginal/Torres straight Islander recipients of study allowance – receive Austudy payment.

Aboriginals and Torres straight Islanders – receive Abstudy payment.

 

The Abstudy allowance is actually more $ than the Austudy allowance!!

<SNIP>.

AUSTUDY and ABSTUDY rates are the same.

 

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/abstudy/eligibility/payment-rates

 

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/austudy/payments/payment-rates

 

Higher welfare payments for Aboriginals has been covered many times, easy to access the reasoning e.g. remote locations

 

Edited October 26, 20196 yr by simple1

17 hours ago, rooster59 said:

You want to respect the cultural side of things, but still you want to have it as a challenge to get up the rock," she told Reuters.

So in reality you don’t give a toss about respecting cultural sensitivities if it means you can’t do what you want to. 

Edited October 26, 20196 yr by Bluespunk

Off-topic, troll posts and replies removed.

 

17 hours ago, rooster59 said:

One of the last climbers, Jason Dudas from Las Vegas, said: "Well, I know there's a big controversy on the hike, and I respect the First Nations here

Since you climbed the rock against the wishes of the “First Nations”, you have shown you have no respect for them at all. 

A racially tinged troll post has been reported and removed.  

 

20 hours ago, Sujo said:

For overseas visitors i dont think they understand that flying into alice springs doesnt put them on thr rocks doorstep.

Yeah, still 500km from Alice Springs with not much but desert between.  Absolutely no other reason to go there.  Whilst the Olgas/kata Juta are interesting, they wouldn't be worth the effort in their own right.  

 

The criteria the powers that be determined for closure was when climbing numbers dropped below 20%.   There would have been many who had intended to climb but did not grasp the difficulty until they started, and quickly gave up.  

 

On that basis probably a minimum 25% drop in tourist numbers.

Edited October 27, 20196 yr by Mick501

many white fella ayering their grievances now... 

 

surely there is more damage to the local environment there, coming from the Sedgways spinning around the perimeter??

Reported offensive troll comment removed.

i was there 20 years ago and they were saying it would be closed soon... I had no interest walking all over it even back then, it's just a big rock

Head on up to wolf creek,just make sure Mick's not around. 

Something all Australians should be proud of..

 

I climber the rock in 1985. There was also an open trail rounding it with only sacred sites being closed off. But neither "achievement" came even close to the sheer elation of the sunset. So not a loss for tourism and some joy for the natives.

It's not Thailand fella! Aborigines take it very seriously.

 

I've been out that way, up in gulf country, all throughout Qld. Seen many different aspects to it. Way too complex for an online forum.

Is going to cost the taxpayer millions in compensation to indigenous people for lost tourism dollars 

9 hours ago, Toadie said:

It's not Thailand fella! Aborigines take it very seriously.

 

I've been out that way, up in gulf country, all throughout Qld. Seen many different aspects to it. Way too complex for an online forum.

Mate, you are dealing with a mob here who are struggling with the concept that they are humans, let  alone a people’s with a sophisticated culture. 

Edited October 28, 20196 yr by samran

Uluru falls victim to climb it change!

On 10/26/2019 at 2:05 PM, sir charles IV said:

When it comes to receiving welfare the indigenous have no issues in taking it as all Australians eligible do. But on other matters “it’s our land”. Two face hypocrites.


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Agreed. If they want to own it because of culture, be cultural in everything. Live off the land like their ancestors did.

If they want to use "culture" as the reason, don't take taxpayers money.

Edited October 29, 20196 yr by thaibeachlovers

On 10/28/2019 at 8:40 AM, Thechook said:

Is going to cost the taxpayer millions in compensation to indigenous people for lost tourism dollars 

Far as I know tourists can still go to the park, just not climb the rock, and it is just a rock- it doesn't have magical powers.

So now no reason to go there. View it from a picture. Now the pyramids are a different story.

4 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

So now no reason to go there. View it from a picture. Now the pyramids are a different story.

Interesting you should use that as an example. The pyramids are actually a real cultural heritage, but the Egyptians have no problem with tourists walking on them. I went and went down into the pyramid. Amazing.

On the other hand, Ayers Rock is just a big rock, and the only cultural significance is what people invent for it. It didn't bring their ancestors from another planet and they didn't build it. It just happened to be somewhere they happened to go. If they'd travelled a way off and not seen it, it wouldn't be anything now but a big rock with no cultural significance at all.

 

24 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Interesting you should use that as an example. The pyramids are actually a real cultural heritage, but the Egyptians have no problem with tourists walking on them. I went and went down into the pyramid. Amazing.

On the other hand, Ayers Rock is just a big rock, and the only cultural significance is what people invent for it. It didn't bring their ancestors from another planet and they didn't build it. It just happened to be somewhere they happened to go. If they'd travelled a way off and not seen it, it wouldn't be anything now but a big rock with no cultural significance at all.

 

...ahm...it happened to be THEIR CONTINENT, before the white man took it away from them!

Just a thought!