Ayers Rock 2014

Ayers Rock Revisited

In '98 I visited friends in Sydney and decided to see Ayer's Rock.  The people in Sydney said "Don't listen to what anybody tells you, make sure you climb the rock." They said this business about ownership was a con because 'if you look at the areas they're claiming ownership of they're all the areas that a valuable from a tourism point of view - even Botany Bay where Capt. Cook landed'", which would be significant to white people but not to Aborigines. The Sydneysiders thought it was all about money.  So I flew to Ayer's rock, stopped one night, climbed it, and flew back to Sydney.  I was surprised by what the white Australians had done to the rock  --  used hole-cutting equipment to make post-holes in the rock and concreted in steel poles and ran a chain up to make it easier for everybody to climb.  They had also painted white lines on it to mark the route  --  and there was a rubbish bin at the top.

In 2014, my wife wanted to see Ayer's Rock and I thought perhaps I'd show her what the white Australians had done to it.  This is nothing to do with "conquering" Ayer's Rock by climbing it and more about looking at it closely and thinking.

Since I climbed it in '98 Ayer's Rock was handed back to the aborigines  --  who promptly leased it to the federal government for $75K per year  --  that's my tax money being spent there!  There are lots of signs saying "Please respect out culture, please don't climb the rock". Interestingly you can still climb it if you want to.  I suspect there was a dealbreaker clause in the lease to say it had to be climbable(?) because the business owners recognise a hard truth - it's nothing more than a rock, thousands of miles from anywhere and nobody will go if you can't climb it.  The new owners, however, are notorious for having zero business acumen.

It probably not politically-correct to talk about things as black and white these days, but I suspect white men built up a business between the 1950's and the 1980's based on climbing it, and the enterprise has shifted across to aboriginal owners who are well-intentioned, but nevertheless slowly running it down with the don't climb message. People go there thinking they can still climb if they want to.

It's $25 each to get into the park, but you don't get to find out if the climb is open or closed until you get to either the visitor's centre or the car park. Lots of people visited, but lots of people were disappointed too.  The climb was closed due to "high winds at the summit" when we went  --  for all 4 days in a row.  I have since learned that they also close it if there is a 20% or higher chance of rain, and for ceremonies.  I didn't see publications of dates of ceremonies.  A local painter told me that in her experience it is only available to climb one week a month (i.e. it is closed 75% of the time).  It was closed for all 4 days we were there due to wind. Note also that the _entire_ site is closed, not just the summit walk, so if you hop the fence to get a closer look at the rock where the carpark is, and you are seen doing it, you will likely be tapped for $5K even though it isn't windy in the car park.

Cycling around the rock I had to comment on one thing: obviously the black streaks on the surface are made by rainwater running straight downwards; how do they get from that to "x hit y with a club"?  Clearly the streak is due to water and in no way connected to an event (unless the event happened in the dreamtime and they believe the physical shape of the rock today is a direct consequence of the event...? bit of a stretch but I'm not an anthropologist.

So that was $4K on flights and accommodation and I'm never going back.  Ayers rock is not the sort of place you visit twice, is it?  If they covet their rock so much they can have it  --  and I hope it makes them very happy.

Before going, try to find if any ceremonies are on, if you can see if it's open on-line you may be able to find a good time of year to go.  Make sure you climb it.