Australia

Ancient landform is the Anangu’s rock, write Caroline Berdon and Michael Wayne

An immense land iceberg in a sea of sand swirls, Uluru appears almost out of nowhere as we fly over central Australia. But nowhere is a relative term. This landscape may look dry and empty, a marbled carpet of ochre and scrub, but historically and culturally, it’s dripping in wealth.

The Anangu people have been living here in the middle of Australia for 30,000 years. Their population is seven times older than Egypt’s pyramids. But even in their earliest years, Uluru was ancient.

Uluru is estimated to be about 600 million years old, a surviving nub of an early mountain range that was created when big crustal blocks came together to form Australia.

Today, the rock really is like an iceberg. It rises 348m above the plain and has a circumference of 9.4km, but its vast majority, almost 2.5km, is underground.

This bizarre monolith is one of the most photogenic landforms in the world. The 250,000 people who visit from around the world each year soak up its striking forms and textures, marvel at its size and wow over its glowing red hues at sunset and sunrise.

For the Anangu people, though, Uluru is a living place. Their compass, their soul.

“We navigate ourselves around Uluru. It is part of us,” says Anangu elder Sammy Wilson. “Without it, we would be lost.”

In the 80s, Uluru and its surrounding land was handed back to its traditional owners (albeit on a 99-year lease). Since then, the Anangu have tightened accessibility so as to preserve their culture.

Thirty years ago, Uluru was about conquering. Many tourists climbed the rock, marvelling over the desert view from the summit.

These days, its traditional owners discourage climbing. For many tourists, it’s now more about selfies from a distance. In fact it’s nearly impossible to get a photo at any of the viewing platforms without catching a selfie stick in shot.

It’s a funny struggle between two cultures: