Tourists to be banned from climbing sacred Ayers Rock
TOURISTS are to be barred from climbing one of Australia’s most sacred summits because of its cultural significance.
For years visitors from across the globe have made the tough hike to the top of Ayers Rock.
It has claimed the lives of 36 climbers since records were first kept in the 1950s, the most recent fatality being in 2010.
But Aboriginal owners of the site in central Australia – now known as Uluru – imposed the ban, saying the famous landmark was not a “theme park”.
The decision ends a decadeslong campaign by Aborigines to protect the 1,142ft sandstone rock in the Northern Territory.
Pressure to close the site to visitors has grown because of the lack of respect shown by some visitors. One woman stripped naked and others are known to have relieved themselves on top of the rock because of a lack of toilet facilities.
Climbing will end in 2019 to coincide with the 34th anniversary of the rock’s return to its traditional owners.
A board of eight Aborigines and four government officials voted unanimously to close the rock to climbers. Board chairman Sammy Wilson said: “The climb is a man’s sacred area – the men have closed it.
“It has cultural significance and that includes certain restrictions.”
The Unesco World Heritagelisted site attracts 300,000 visitors a year, despite its remote desert location near Alice Springs.
The traditional owners of Uluru, the Anangu people, have called for the climb to be closed since 1985, when the park was placed in indigenous hands.
Members of the rock’s board said in a report in 2010 that they would close the attraction to climbers if the proportion of visitors who tried to climb it dropped below 20 per cent.
They took the matter to a vote yesterday after data showed the number of climbers had fallen below that threshold, from about three quarters throughout the 1990s to just 16 per cent between 2011 and 2015.
Australians are still the most common visitors to climb the rock, followed by the Japanese, according to Parks Australia.
The climb is closed about 77 per cent of the time due to dangerous weather or cultural reasons.