Uluru to be closed to climbers

[imastawka]

Uluru will be closed to climbers after the board of the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park voted to close the climb to the summit of the rock.

The decision to close Uluru to climbers was described as "righting a historic wrong" by David Ross, the director of the Central Land Council.

"This decision has been a very long time coming and our thoughts are with the elders who have longed for this day but are no longer with us to celebrate it," Mr Ross said.

Uluru's management has been urged to close the rock permanently to climbers, with senior traditional owner and leader Sammy Wilson saying the sacred rock is "not a theme park like Disneyland".

In a speech due to have been delivered about 10am today, Mr Wilson, who is also chairman of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board of Management, said it was time to close the rock to climbers.

For years the Anangu, the local Indigenous owners, felt as if they had a "gun to our heads" to keep the rock open, he told the board.

"Please don't hold us to ransom," he said.

The 12-member board that manages the park, which includes eight Indigenous representatives, will vote at noon today on whether to close the climb permanently, while keeping the park open to tourists.

It is very likely to pass, say sources, but not without some opposition.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/uluru-closed-to-climbers-after-vote-of-national-park-board/...

Personally, I think it's about time.  They ask you not to climb, but people still do it.

[imastawka]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

As I remember it when the area was handed back to the Aborigines they swore blind they would not close it to tourists.

Funny how they can change their minds now.

If it was a promise made by the Government (State or Federal) all h*ll would be breaking loose.

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Are you saying the government doesn't break promises?     hahahahahaha

[lyndal1838]

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@imastawka wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

As I remember it when the area was handed back to the Aborigines they swore blind they would not close it to tourists.

Funny how they can change their minds now.

If it was a promise made by the Government (State or Federal) all h*ll would be breaking loose.

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Are you saying the government doesn't break promises?     hahahahahaha

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Just the opposite Stawks....if a Government promises not to do something and then turns round and does exactly that then there is uproar.

[springyzone]

I can believe some people might die of heart attacks on the first bit if they are in poor health but after that, it is undulating & almost flat in many sections.

I am not sure how people could fall to their death unless they got well off the track. Way off the track. It's not as if you are anywhere near the edges for most of the walk. The track itself was marked (or it was back in the 1970s anyway) by a dotted white line so it wasn't as if you could get lost.

The top was large & fairly flat, great views. The walk back was easy. I remember going up, I held onto the rail at the start, coming down, I wondered why on earth I ever felt I needed it.

I'n not particularly invested in whether they close it or not as even if it stayed open, I'm not even sure I'll ever pass that way again & I'm not as young as I used to be so i probably wouldn't do the climb, but seriously, it is not a dangerous climb-Hanging Rock has some dicier sections than Uluru.

[lyndal1838]

I'm with you Springy.....I have no vested interest in whether it remains open to climbers as it is many years since my knees were capable of doing to climb.

But I would like my grandchildren to have the opportunity if they wanted to do it.

[chameleon54]

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@bsal6160 wrote:

THE ROCK has been there for over 500,000,000 years. Compare that to the supposed 40,000 years for aborginial culture. How can they say it is theirs? They didnt build it, put it there, repair it, maintain it. Its a rock of NATIONAL importance not for one culture to claim.

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I agree. While I think we should respect specific painted caves or other small areas of ancient cultural signifigance to the aborigines, my family have been farmers in Australia for generations. I am just as much an Australian as any aborigine born here today. Ones emotional contact with their home and place of birth is not a competition related to whose ancestors have been here the longest, its a personal, lived experience.

For me as a farmer its about smelling the freshly tilled soil or newly mowed hay. Its about the way the eucalypt leaves shine after summer rain and the bees buzz around the clumps of wattle flower. My personal experiences of place and identity are just as important to me as they are to many aborigines..

The rock was here long before the first boat people migrated here in canoes and it will still be here long after the last one dies out. No-one owns it.

[springyzone]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@bsal6160 wrote:

THE ROCK has been there for over 500,000,000 years. Compare that to the supposed 40,000 years for aborginial culture. How can they say it is theirs? They didnt build it, put it there, repair it, maintain it. Its a rock of NATIONAL importance not for one culture to claim.

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I agree. While I think we should respect specific painted caves or other small areas of ancient cultural signifigance to the aborigines, my family have been farmers in Australia for generations. I am just as much an Australian as any aborigine born here today. Ones emotional contact with their home and place of birth is not a competition related to whose ancestors have been here the longest, its a personal, lived experience.

For me as a farmer its about smelling the freshly tilled soil or newly mowed hay. Its about the way the eucalypt leaves shine after summer rain and the bees buzz around the clumps of wattle flower. My personal experiences of place and identity are just as important to me as they are to many aborigines..

The rock was here long before the first boat people migrated here in canoes and it will still be here long after the last one dies out. No-one owns it.

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Those are beautiful words, chameleon.

it reminds me of something that happened at my workplace a few years back.

It was a school & a dress up day-come in any costume to represent your national background. One of the teachers said-I'll have to think of something Australian & the prin turned on him & said no, you can't come as an Australian, you're not aboriginal. They're the only ones entitled to call themselves Australian.

He was put back in his box by staff but it's a common point of view you hear from some sectors. But I wonder what they would think if we turned it in the other direction & said to newcomers to this country, hey, you can't vote or stand for parliament etc till your family/ancestors have been in this country for at least 150 years as we won't consider you Australian.

The truth of the matter is a lot of us, especially older people, have lived in this country as long as most aborigines, which is precisely one lifetime. That's all any of us get. If you were born here & have lived here all your life, you should be entitled to call yourself Australian.

That doesn't mean we can't respect other cultures. Perhaps there could be a compromise. The rock climb closed most of the time but opened only on certain weeks of the year, with an extra fee if anyone did wish to do it.

I just know that for me, it was special to know I had done it, seen it as it is an icon even to white Australians.

[davidc4430]

mm, i wonder what the principle writes on forms that ask what his/her nationality is?

i'm asuming they were born here.

[kopenhagen5]

That doesn't mean we can't respect other cultures. 

That's my point exactly, if it is sacred to aboriginal culture, we would do well to respect it.

I like the idea of it being open to climb at certain limited periods.

[imastawka]

I would like to point out that although there is no 'edge' to fall off at Uluru,

it looks like you would only need to lose your footing and fall backwards.

       

[davidc4430]