Yahoo – AFP,
November 1, 2017
 |
| Traditional owners and National Park representatives have decided to ban the climbing of Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, from October 2019 amid fears it was being treated as a 'theme park' (AFP Photo/Greg Wood) |
Sydney
(AFP) - Climbing the world's largest monolith Uluru was banned Wednesday amid
concerns it was becoming a "theme park", undermining the giant red
rock's deep cultural significance.
Scrambling
up the symbol of the Outback, also known as Ayers Rock, is seen by many
tourists as a must-do on their visit to Australia.
But they do
so against the wishes of the traditional Aboriginal owners, the Anangu, to whom
the site is sacred.
At a
meeting of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board, made up of traditional
owners and National Park representatives, a unanimous decision was made to ban
the activity.
It will
come into force in October 2019.
"This
decision is for both Anangu and non-Anangu together to feel proud about; to
realise, of course it’s the right thing to close it," board chairman Sammy
Wilson said.
Speaking to
state broadcaster ABC after the decision, he added that the site was not a
"theme park".
"Some
people in tourism and government for example might have been saying we need to
keep it open but it's not their law that lies in this land," he said.
"It is
an extremely important place, not a playground or theme park like
Disneyland."
The rock's
traditional Aboriginal owners' connection to the site dates back tens of
thousands of years and it has great spiritual and cultural significance to
them.
Wilson
urged tourists to respect the ruling.
"If I
travel to another country and there is a sacred site, an area of restricted
access, I don’t enter or climb it, I respect it," he said in the
statement.
"It is
the same here for Anangu. We welcome tourists here. We are not stopping
tourism, just this activity."
Park
authorities have long looked to close the climb permanently. It is currently
left up to visitors to decide whether to tackle the sandstone monolith, which
soars 348 metres (1,148 feet).
About
300,000 people visit each year and, while there are no official figures on how
many climb, their numbers are reported to have declined significantly.
Tackling
Uluru's sandstone slopes is not an easy exercise and there have been numerous
deaths over the years on the rock, where summer temperatures often hit 45 degrees
Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
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