Ayers Rock Climbing Ban Gains Steam, Stripper Cited

To climb or not to climb? That has been the question on many tourists’ minds when visiting Uluru, more famously known as Ayers Rock. Since the landmark was handed back to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines (Anangu) in 1985, they have discouraged climbing it. The reasons for this are that the path up the rock crosses a sacred traditional Dreamtime track, and that the Anangu have a spiritual connection to Uluru that makes them “feel great sadness” when someone dies or is injured on the rock.

As I reported at Matador Trips last year, there has been talk of a ban on climbing Uluru, led by the National Parks and the Anangu people. Last January, however, Environment Minister Peter Garrett overruled the proposal, but stated that if certain conditions were met the issue would be revisited. In the meantime, visitors continue to disregard the signs asking that people do not climb the rock.

According to the NZ Herald, pressure is once again mounting to ban climbing the sacred rock, based on several recent events. First was French exotic dancer Alizee Sery, who stripped at the top in what she claimed was a tribute to Uluru and its long-time caretakers. Word spread and she was followed by a tourist named Jordan van Haaren, who posted naked photos of himself on top of the rock on the internet. In another move bound to tick off the champions of Uluru, Australian sports and media icon Sam Newman teed up a golf ball from the peak and knocked it into the yonder.

These acts have renewed the call for a climbing ban ahead of the Environment Minister’s plans.

Kon Vatskalis, the Greek-born NT Health Minister, took the Aborigines’ side, posing the question: How would French people feel if an Australian danced semi-naked on the altar of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris?

“I tell you what, Greece would be outraged if this happened on the Parthenon,” he said.

Fair enough.

[Image: rpizzz / Flickr]