Right to Climb

Climbing Tales  This series celebrates Uluru climbing experiences posted online. #10 Lewis Family Climb We made it to the top. Wonderful post from the Lewis Family about their visit to Ayers Rock and the Olgas.  It was truly an amazing experience!  We stayed up here and just breathed it all in!  Why? I have wanted to climb the rock for as long as I can remember since I was very young. I think it is something most Australians aspire to do at least once in their life and I was very excited about being here and ticking another item off my bucket list! It’s not that I don’t respect the Indigenous Culture but I was born in this great country and I am Australian too and I believe the rock belongs to all of us! Parks Australia push a false message. The Ranger showed up for the 8am Mala guided walk and the climb still wasn’t opened so we decided to do the tour with the throngs of other people there who were waiting to climb the rock as well! The wal...

Summit Cairn 1962. There are few photos online showing the survey cairn erected by National Mapping Surveyor Reginald Arthur Ford in 1958. This photo from the Film Australia Collection shows the cairn in 1962. The dog (kelpie?) a sign of the less regulated nature of the National Park in the 1960s. I understand it is a still from a short film " Äppointment with Alice "-- see below. Credit: National Film and Sound Archive.  Appointment with Alice A description of the tourist attractions of Central Australia. Series:  Australia Presents |  Episode:  1 |  Year:  1962 |  Total Duration:  15 Minutes CU "brain" crater marking in Uluru (Ayers Rock) and high angle WS of the huge "Womens Cave" dwarfing visitors. Tilt to roof of cave with eroded sandstone forming hanging rocks. VS "Roo Tail" rocky outcrop on Uluru with VS of tourist climbing between it and the rock. LS then GS couple and dog climbing up the western slope o...

This series of posts showcase the contents of the Last Logbook on Ayers Rock. Part 6: Cover and pages 91-110. Last July when I climbed the Rock with my daughters I left a blank 192 exercise book in a tupperware container at the summit memorial. The front cover looked like this: The text on the cover reads: Signing the summit logbook has been an important cultural institution at Ayers Rock since the 1890s. Sadly, since the late 1980s Park Management have denied Australians and International visitors the opportunity to record their achievement. The first climbers to leave a note marking their achievement were Allan Breadon and W Oliver on March 4, 1897: “We added a few stones to the pile and left two wax vesta boxes (tins) with names and date thereon.” Glass coffee jars held the names of climbers between 1932 and the 1950s. In September 1950 the jars held the names of about 70 climbers. Formal log books, termed the “Achievers’ book”, replaced the assorted collection of jars and tins...

Intellectual freedom sold out debating the Climb. I have been a member of the  Geological Society of Australia , since the mid-1990s. While there has been no official statement from the society about the ban on climbing Ayers Rock the society newsletter (TAG - short for The Australian Geologist ) did publish an essay supporting the climb by me in the March 2018 issue. This generated some debate in the following issue from a few who think that the rock should not be scaled, fair enough. In the December 2018 issue of TAG, there was an advertisement for my Book " A guide to climbing Ayers Rock ". This is how the ad appeared, on page 45 near the last page.  TAG December 2018, page 45 The ad triggered a response from U niversity of Adelaide lecturer Dr Kathryn Amos . Dr Amos was gobsmacked by the appearance of the advert in the newsletter and her letter appeared in the March 2019 issue of The Australian Geologist (TAG)... TAG March 2019, page 9. While I welcome ...

This series of posts showcase the contents of the Last Logbook on Ayers Rock. Part 5: Cover and pages 71-90. Last July when I climbed the Rock with my daughters I left a blank 192 exercise book in a tupperware container at the summit memorial. The front cover looked like this: The text on the cover reads: Signing the summit logbook has been an important cultural institution at Ayers Rock since the 1890s. Sadly, since the late 1980s Park Management have denied Australians and International visitors the opportunity to record their achievement. The first climbers to leave a note marking their achievement were Allan Breadon and W Oliver on March 4, 1897: “We added a few stones to the pile and left two wax vesta boxes (tins) with names and date thereon.” Glass coffee jars held the names of climbers between 1932 and the 1950s. In September 1950 the jars held the names of about 70 climbers. Formal log books, termed the “Achievers’ book”, replaced the assorted collection of jars and tins ...

The Tiger Tjalkalyirri Memorial Lookout In our increasingly Orwellian world, there are a mere 200 days to go until darkness descends on Ayers Rock and the summit trail up its western climbing spur, experienced by about seven million visitors from all around the world, is banned. Destruction of the climbing chain, five memorial plaques and the summit cairn is scheduled shortly after the ban is in place. The views from the summit are so magnificent they form an integral reason for the Park’s World Heritage listing. The irony that accessing those World Heritage views via the climb will become illegal is lost on Parks Australia and the board of management. In one of those rendings of the time-space continuum, a small snippet of news about our Rock has leaked through from an alternate universe — one in which the Whitlam government never saw the light of day and the welfare wreck it created was never able to poison a proud, self-reliant people. Red Centre Times 10/4/2019  Feds k...

It’s about 200 days to go until one of the world’s most iconic, exhilarating, awe-inspiring experiences of the Natural World, the climb up Ayers Rock is banned. With the ban sadly Australia will become perhaps the only nation on earth to outlaw awe and wonder. Visitors to our National Parks should be free to use established public spaces and walking trails without being fettered by irrational religious beliefs or petty bureaucratic restrictions and regulations that serve no useful purpose other than to make life easier for underworked Park officials. There is still time to make a difference and ensure the life-affirming experience of climbing Ayers Rock is available to future generations. Overall about 60% of Park visitors have done the climb. We need to ensure future generations also have this wonderful opportunity to engage with the natural world and see those summit views that are protected by a United Nations World Heritage Listing. It’s somewhat ironic that the ban on climbing...