Uluru-Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock-Mount Olga)

Rising 1,100 feet above the Australian desert, the red sandstone monolith known as Uluru is an international tourist destination. For some people, Uluru is a symbol of Aboriginal cultures and their struggle for land rights, and a model for collaborative indigenous-governmental land management. Uluru and its neighbor Kata Tjuta, a series of 36 rock domes, comprise an area of spiritual significance to Anangu, the local Aboriginal people whose belief system is intertwined with the landscape. Once appropriated by the Australian government for commercial tourism development and renamed “Ayers Rock” and “Mount Olga,” Uluru and Kata Tjuta are now the centerpiece of a 330,000-acre National Park owned by Anangu and jointly managed with the Parks Australia. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is governed by a unique, precedent-setting law, the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act of 1989 and many of the sacred places around Uluru are off limits to tourists and photographers. According to one traditional elder: “This place, Uluru, is sacred. Don’t say that it is sacred only for a short time. It is a sacred object. We, Anangu, are the keepers of it.”

Report by Amberly Polidor
Thanks to Reg Blow for reviewing the text prior to publication

History

The Traditional Owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park speak Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara and call themselves Anangu — “we, Aboriginal people.” Anangu lived in the deserts of Central Australia for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of white settlers, leading a nomadic hunting and gathering way of life rooted in a spiritual relationship with the land. At the heart of this relationship is their Tjukurpa (law and culture). Anangu believe that the world as it is today was created by heroic ancestral beings that roamed the land before humans existed, during the Tjukurpa, or the creation period. As these beings moved from place to place—meeting friends, fighting, having adventures, performing ceremonies—they shaped the landscape and left some of their spirit behind. Thus, the exploits of Anangu’s spiritual ancestors are mapped throughout the land in topographic features like waterholes, rock formations, caves, hills and gorges, and these features are regarded as sacred places. Iwara, the paths their ancestors created as they traveled the land, link these sacred places and are an important element of Anangu belief and culture, both as means of travel and social connection and as a spiritual link to the past and its stories. As Anangu travel the iwara, they recount ancestral tales in the form of song cycles that take days to sing. Uluru and Kata Tjuta are two important sacred centers, containing more than 40 named sites and countless other secret sites, and numerous iwara crisscross the area.

Anangu call their creation period tjukurpa, and this name also represents their way of life as a whole—their law, philosophy and religion; relationships among people, animals, plants and land formations; and the understanding of what these relationships mean and how they should be maintained. Tjukurpa shapes their system of morality, and the symbolic stories of tjukurpa guide daily life, from land management to social relationships. Essential to the law of tjukurpa is Anangu’s responsibility as caretakers of the natural environment. The knowledge of tjukurpa is maintained and passed on through oral narratives, song cycles, ceremony and art, all of which are interconnected with the landscape.

In the 19th century, British colonization began to disrupt the Australian indigenous way of life. Faced with Aboriginal resistance, colonizers forced many of the native people off their lands and into controlled settlements. Because of its limited commercial potential, much of Central Australia was designated as Aboriginal reserve territory and remained relatively unaffected by colonization until the early- to mid-20th century. But with the establishment of large pastoral homesteads and gold and mineral mining operations, business interest in the territory became significant. Uluru’s tourist appeal was realized as the region’s roads and infrastructure grew, and businesses waged a prolonged campaign to open the region to tourism. In 1959, the area of the reserve that included Uluru and Kata Tjuta—known then as Ayers Rock and Mount Olga by white settlers—was excised for use by tour companies, and Anangu were forced from the area. By the 1970s, Ayers Rock-Mount Olga was the most famous stop on the outback tourist circuit. Motels and shops had sprung up, and visitors were free to tramp through secret ceremonial sites and camp on top of the rock, which Anangu do not climb because of its spiritual significance. Meanwhile, some Anangu had returned to the area and established a camp at the base of the rock, and in the face of the uncontrolled development, it became clear that they needed to reassert their traditional tie to the land in order to protect their sacred sites.

In 1979, the Central Land Council (CNC) lodged a claim on behalf of Anangu under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976. The culmination of decades of indigenous struggle for land reform, this law set a benchmark as the first government act to legally recognize the Aboriginal system of land ownership, which is communal and inalienable. It designated all reserve land as Aboriginal-owned, and it enabled Aboriginal people to lay claim to unused government land or land to which they can prove traditional ownership. The claim for Uluru-Kata Tjuta, however, was deemed invalid because the area had been designated a National Park in 1977 and could only be returned to Anangu ownership if the Land Rights Act was amended. The CNC and Traditional Owners immediately launched a campaign to change the law, give the land title to Anangu, and establish the Traditional Owners as a majority on the Park’s Board of Management. In 1983, the Australian government agreed to these requests; two years later, the title papers were signed over to Anangu, who in turn leased the park to Parks Australia under a joint management agreement. Significantly, the terms of the lease allow for its termination if the government enacts legislation that is detrimental to the interests of the park’s owners. It also allows tourists to climb to the top of the sacred rock. In 1995, in acknowledgement of Anangu ownership and their relationship with the area, the name of the park was changed from Ayers Rock-Mount Olga to Uluru-Kata Tjuta, its traditional name.

Current Challenges

Although the Anangu have regained ownership of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, numerous issues, primarily related to the impacts of tourism, continue to undermine their right to preserve their spiritual and cultural heritage. Some 400,000 people visit the park annually, and this high and increasing number creates multiple strains on the park. There are concerns about the existing tourism infrastructure. For example, the road that surrounds the park runs close to some sacred sites. Yulara, the resort town 12 miles outside the park that accommodates almost all visitors, has been praised by some for its environmental sensitivity—it is built entirely below the level of the highest bordering sand dune—but others criticize it as an overpriced, culturally insensitive sprawl. Furthermore, Anangu have no part in Yulara’s management and expansion decisions. Inside the park, overcrowding, especially during the peak season, robs the park of its atmosphere of solitude and sacredness. Photography is a very sensitive issue, and signs forbid photography and hiking near a number of sacred sites. There are also concerns that the introduction of certain species of plants and animals, some of which arrive via park visitors, threaten natural species in this fragile desert ecosystem.

A major challenge is that of discouraging visitors from climbing Uluru. To Anangu, climbing Uluru is a violation of tjukurpa. (The route of the Uluru climb is the traditional trail taken by ancestral Mala men upon their arrival to Uluru.) Climbing the rock is also dangerous: heat and winds pose a significant threat, and at least 37 people have died while making the climb since tourism has operated in the park. For these reasons, Anangu request that visitors do not climb the rock, there is no official records kept but it is estimated that nearly half of all visitors choose to climb, and visitor surveys indicate that the challenge of getting to the top pulls people like a magnet. Although Anangu tolerate climbing on Uluru, it is clear that commercial pressures have kept the rock open. In 2001, after the death of an elder, Anangu closed the path for a 10-day mourning period, which elicited protests from some government officials and members of the region’s tourist industry. Many feared that the temporary closure might lead to a permanent ban, but to date, no such plan is in place. Echoing the U.S. National Park Service and Plains Indians at Devils Tower in Wyoming, the Uluru Park Web site states: “Anangu have not closed the climb. They prefer that you—out of education and understanding—choose to respect their law and culture by not climbing.”

Anangu are also concerned about their opportunities to share in economic benefit from the tourism they permit on the land. Although they receive a share of rent and entry fees and control commercial enterprises within the park, overall Anangu involvement in commercial uses of the park and its surrounding tourist infrastructure is limited. Their challenge is to make tourism an opportunity for economic sovereignty rather than another manifestation of colonial exploitation.

Preservation Efforts

International recognition and national law help to preserve Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and its sacred sites. The park is listed as a United Nations World Heritage Site for both its natural and cultural heritage. Among the World Heritage values for which the park is listed is the recognition that Anangu land management practices, governed by tjukurpa, have sustained the ecosystems and biodiversity of the area. The park is protected under Australian law by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act of 1989, perhaps the only law in the world that explicitly protects indigenous peoples’ sacred lands, provides further safeguards.

Anangu form a majority on the park’s Board of Management and are employed as rangers and cultural interpreters. They have established management practices, based on tjukurpa, to preserve the spiritual, cultural and ecological integrity of the park, and to ensure that their rights and knowledge are respected. To that end, access to certain sacred areas of the park is restricted and photography is prohibited in others. To review the park regulations regarding photography and to apply for the required permit for any commercial use of images of Uluru, click here. Overnight camping in the park is prohibited. To discourage climbing Uluru, a visitor education program explains the concept of tjukurpa and why it is against Anangu belief to climb the rock. Issues of overcrowding and infrastructure deficiencies are being assessed in current management planning processes.

What You Can Do

If you visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, don’t climb Uluru. Circumambulate! Please respect the trail signs prohibiting photography in sensitive areas. If you want to take part in a guided tour, be sure to use a company endorsed by the Traditional Owners of the park (information is available at the park’s Cultural Centre); avoid any company that advertises climbing Uluru as part of its tour activities. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn about Anangu culture and the park’s unique ecosystem. Encourage others to do the same. For some thoughts on “ethics when visiting a sacred place” click here.

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