Australia's most famous natural landmark has two names – Uluru and Ayers Rock. So which one is correct? The rock was called Uluru a long time before Europeans arrived in Australia. The word is a proper noun from the Pitjantjatjara language and doesn't have an English translation.
In this year, the name of the national park changed from Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The change was put in place to show respect for the Anangu people and, specifically, to acknowledge their ownership of the land.
Uluru/Ayers Rock, giant monolith, one of the tors (isolated masses of weathered rock) in southwestern Northern Territory, central Australia. It has long been revered by a variety of Australian Aboriginal peoples of the region, who call it Uluru.
It has been criticised as disrespectful to Aboriginal people, who have long asked tourists not to climb. Locals say some tourists are dumping waste and camping illegally nearby. In 2017, the board of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park voted unanimously to end the climb because of the spiritual significance of the site.
1. Uluru: The Original Name. The Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock is Uluru. Uluru is a Yankunytjatjara word.
In 2002 these names were reversed at the request of the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs and the rock took on the official name of Uluru / Ayers Rock, which it still has today. That means you can use either Uluru or Ayers Rock to refer to the rock.
Early European explorers
In 1873 another explorer, William Gosse, became the first non-Aboriginal person to see Uluru, naming it Ayers Rock after the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.
Uluru isn't yours to climb
The traditional owners – the Anangu – consider Uluru an intensely spiritual place, an area where their Tjukurpa (creation stories), which govern their ceremonies, art and rules for living, converge.
Who owns Uluru and Kata Tjuta? Anangu own Uluru and Kata Tjuta and lease the land to the Australian Government. Parks Australia and Anangu work together as partners, jointly managing the national park using a mix of modern science and traditional knowledge.
Climbers have used the rock as both a rubbish bin and a bathroom, throwing trash on the rock during their climb as well as using it as a toilet when human nature calls.
Welcome to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We are are Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people, the traditional landowners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
There is no one Aboriginal word that all Aborigines use for Australia; however, today they call Australia, ""Australia"" because that is what it is called today. There are more than 250 aboriginal tribes in Australia. Most of them didn't have a word for ""Australia""; they just named places around them.
It is a Sacred Site
For many, Uluru and its neighbour Kata Tjuta aren't just rocks, they are living, breathing, cultural landscapes that are incredibly sacred. Known as being the resting place for the past ancient spirits of the region.
Uluru is a sacred place for the Anangu people, the traditional owners of the monolith and the land it sits on. For years the Anangu have spoken out against climbing the rock and pleaded with tourists to stop ascending it. Uluru is a sacred men's site.
While Climbing Uluru has been stopped, but you can still get up up and personal with the rock on an incredible trek around the base., and yes you can touch Uluru.
Uluru is the world's largest single rock monolith. That is to say, there is no other single rock formation as large as Uluru. Mount Augustus, on the other hand, contains a variety of rock types.
Here are some more facts about Australia's iconic rock formation in the Northern Territory. Uluru stands 348 metres above sea level at its tallest point (24m higher than the Eiffel Tower), yet it resembles a “land iceberg” as the vast majority of its mass is actually underground - almost 2.5km worth!
When the Hawke government handed back the title deeds for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the Anangu people in October 1985, it ended decades of determined lobbying by the traditional owners to have their rights recognised.
There is even more of it underground
Uluru is big, but most of its mass is buried under the surrounding desert. Uluru as we see it today was created by millions of years of erosion of the softer surrounding rock. Beneath the surface, Uluru extends at least another 2.5kms.
Cultural protocols for photographers
Uluru and Kata Tjuta have a number of culturally sensitive sites. The rock details and features at these sites are equivalent to sacred scripture for Anangu – they describe culturally important information and should only be viewed in their original location and by specific people.
Thirty seven people have died climbing Uluru since 1950, the last as recently as July 2018. Between 2002 and 2009, no fewer than 74 rescues involved medical attention.
An estimated 37 people have died on Uluru since Western tourists began climbing the site in the middle of last century via a track so steep in parts that some scared visitors descend backward or on all fours. Some slipped on wet rock and fell to their deaths.
Uluru stands 318 metres above the surrounding desert and measures eight kilometres around. The monolith also extends at least 2.5 kilometres down into the ground.
Uluru and Kata Tjuta started to form about 550 million years ago.