Climbing Ban Could be Coming to Uluru
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 07.08.09 | 11:55 AM ET
Photo by An Australian government proposal is in the works to ban tourists from climbing Uluru, the distinctive red rock monolith that is considered sacred ground by local indigenous groups. Those same groups have been pushing for the move for years, but the proposal is—predictably—controversial in other quarters: “Big Brother is coming to Uluru to slam the gate closed on an Australian tourism icon,” said one conservative politician quoted in the Independent.
Invoking Orwell here seems a tad dramatic. I’m more inclined to agree with local elder Vince Forrester. “You can’t go climb on top of the Vatican, you can’t go climb on top of the Buddhist temples and so on and so forth,” he said. “Obviously you have to respect our religious attachment to the land too, so we’re saying please do not climb Uluru.”
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Johnny 07.08.09 | 12:22 PM ET
Climbing Ayer’s Rock will still be ok though. :-)
Grizzly Bear Mom 07.08.09 | 3:11 PM ET
What? You mean to tell me that a majority group is going to respect a minority groups’ closely held beliefs? Why it they do that in Austrailia then it might spread to Asia, than Europe, and then we Americans might have to do the same here! Pretty soon we would all be getting along with each other, learn fascinating and wise things about other cultures, have to lay off our armies and weapons producers, and divert the money into educaiton of all things!
It still going to be okay to dance naked about Stone Hendge at sunrise when I visit in September won’t it? Or do Mesolithians actually have to be in residence for their shrine to be respected? I"M not going to be inconvenienced in any way, am I?
niamh 07.17.09 | 5:34 AM ET
It’s great that this is being talked about though.
Personally, I’m with non-climbers. I know it’s hard to see that a monolith is of religious significance but it is, so we should respect their wishes. Walking around it takes a few hours but you see so much more, read the stories set up around it, hear the stories and really get to see the rock. It’ s beautiful up close in a way that you just can’t imagine from photographs - the textures and colours change from bright red to orange to dirt brown and from smooth to scarred and back again.
The main reason people climb seems to be just to say that they did it - why not take a minute to learn something instead which is what travelling is meant to be about anyhow?!