The goons of Uluru
When you smash the small things, big things follow.
Section 17-2 of the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park lease agreement "covenants that the flora, fauna, cultural heritage and natural environment of the park shall be preserved, managed and maintained according to the best comparable management practices established for National Parks anywhere in the world or where no comparable practices exist, to the highest standards practicable."
I have always contended that the Ayers Rock Summit Climb and its associated infrastructure are items of important cultural heritage, protected by the lease and the 1987 World Heritage Agreement. Parks Australia has breached the lease and its obligations under the World Heritage agreement by banning the climb and destroying the summit monument, chain and memorial plaques. Through some Orwellian doublespeak Parks Australia contends that its actions are legal. For want of a seven-figure sum of money, their warped interpretation remains unchallenged in the courts.
We alerted the then Minister Melissa Price of the impending destruction of Australian Heritage and Culture in September last year but the Minister and the government did not raise a hand in protest and have now allowed this travesty occur.
"Smash the Cairn" "All that white man stuff"
Parks Australia issued a tender early this year for the removal of the Heritage items (Chain/Summit monument and 5 memorial plaques) and sadly it seems this cultural vandalism is now completed at a cost to the taxpayer of well over $100,000. The appalling manner in which the Summit Monument was removed is outlined in the following ABC interview. The lack of care and consideration in removing it and damage to the important geodetic survey marker below something that Parks Australia need to explain. Equally disgusting is the attitude of the ABC presenter and I have made a complaint to the ABC (which one expects will not result in any action):
Transcript ABC report Cleaning up Uluru on Myf Warhurst (full transcript below)
ABC online Thu 7 Nov 2019, 12:30pm
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/myf-warhurst/uluru-stone-mason/11682536
Absolutely shameful! Parks Australia entrusted the removal of this heritage item essentially to an Aboriginal rights activist who considered the items to be "All
that White man stuff". It seems very little care went into dismantling the monument and it is no longer functional as a National geodetic base station. It was supposed to have been taken down piece by piece carefully labelled and transported so it could have been reconstructed as it was, for potential display at the base of the Rock or at the National Museum (both of which are bizarre in their own way). The manner in which it was removed is an insult to the men who so carefully erected it in 1970, and an insult to the millions of visitors who have climbed and been photographed with it.
The response from the ABC presenter in laughing at the destruction of history is another example of how far from common decency ABC have drifted, and how ignorant they are of the heritage around them. Would Ms Warhurst also guffaw at the destruction of the Banimyan Bhuddas? or of Aboriginal Heritage? It's quite obscene.
This is how Parks Australia looks after our cultural heritage and important scientific infrastructure!
They should all be sacked, Minister included!
About the historic Summit Monument
The bronze directional plaque and summit monument celebrate the work of the Division of National Mapping and the Reserves Board of the Northern Territory. The summit trig point is a 1st order National geodetic base station, one of the stations used to help complete the Geodetic survey of Australia. The bronze plaque was cast in Melbourne and erected in December 1970 by Northern Territory parks staff including long-serving and well-respected head ranger Derek Roff (See below) under supervision of a surveyor from National Mapping, Bill Johnson who suggested the design. The formal monument replaced a stone survey cairn constructed in 1958 by National Mapping Reg Ford that in turn replaced the small pile of stones erected by William Gosse when he first climbed in 1873. The stones used to construct the 1970s pedestal were imported from Mt Conner due to concerns about the durability of the Ayers Rock arkose and the stone plinth incorporates rocks from the 1958 cairn. The bronze directional plaque points to features nominated in the 1987 World Heritage listing and appears as the "Lookout" in maps supporting that document. The inscription contains a small spelling error (Territories should be Territory) that has largely gone unnoticed. Parks Australia have neglected to maintain the plaque: the map of Australia and the Australian coat of arms that were a feature have been missing since the early 2000s. The pedestal included space for a logbook, but this has been clumsily sealed over. 171 logbooks containing the names of about 1 million climbers survive at the NT archives in Alice Springs. When the federal government took over management of the Park in the late 1980s the practice of maintaining the logbook was discontinued without any consultation.
For more information about the monument Xnatmap has a detailed description: Uluru - Ayers Rock Geodetic Trigonometrical Station – its 1970 remonumenting
See also out posts:
http://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2018/01/history-of-ayers-rock-summit-marker.html
https://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2018/06/ayers-rock-geodetic-station.html
When you smash the small things, big things follow.
Section 17-2 of the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park lease agreement "covenants that the flora, fauna, cultural heritage and natural environment of the park shall be preserved, managed and maintained according to the best comparable management practices established for National Parks anywhere in the world or where no comparable practices exist, to the highest standards practicable."
I have always contended that the Ayers Rock Summit Climb and its associated infrastructure are items of important cultural heritage, protected by the lease and the 1987 World Heritage Agreement. Parks Australia has breached the lease and its obligations under the World Heritage agreement by banning the climb and destroying the summit monument, chain and memorial plaques. Through some Orwellian doublespeak Parks Australia contends that its actions are legal. For want of a seven-figure sum of money, their warped interpretation remains unchallenged in the courts.
We alerted the then Minister Melissa Price of the impending destruction of Australian Heritage and Culture in September last year but the Minister and the government did not raise a hand in protest and have now allowed this travesty occur.
Construction fence up at the base of the Climb: What a Welcome to country! Photo by instagrammer: specialok
Parks Australia issued a tender early this year for the removal of the Heritage items (Chain/Summit monument and 5 memorial plaques) and sadly it seems this cultural vandalism is now completed at a cost to the taxpayer of well over $100,000. The appalling manner in which the Summit Monument was removed is outlined in the following ABC interview. The lack of care and consideration in removing it and damage to the important geodetic survey marker below something that Parks Australia need to explain. Equally disgusting is the attitude of the ABC presenter and I have made a complaint to the ABC (which one expects will not result in any action):
Transcript ABC report Cleaning up Uluru on Myf Warhurst (full transcript below)
ABC online Thu 7 Nov 2019, 12:30pm
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/myf-warhurst/uluru-stone-mason/11682536
Myf Warhurst: How do you get it off Luke? So that’s your job as a stonemason on the top of Uluru. Your job is to take that cairn that’s been pretty much bolted into the rock. How do you do it?
Luke Doyle (Stonemason): And then the stone was built around that. So what I do? Is ah. We got battery-operated, um. little um demolition hammers and that. And um, It’s 6 o’clock in the morning when I land there right. 8 o’clock, by 8 o’clock I had the whole thing gone. And we were unbolting it. And Dave was just running to and from the bulka bags emptying the 20 litre buckets as quick as he could. In one with the rubble and one with the rocks. And he couldn’t keep up with me. And he goes slow down, you know like I’m just pulling that sucker down and my first song when I get back with my band the secateurs is going to be called smash the cairn.
Myf: (cackling laughter)
Luke: And it goes: Smash the cairn, smash the cairn, smash the cairn cause I can.
Myf: (laughter) I love it
Luke: I just wrote it while I been sitting here. It’s got 4 or 5 verses and I’ve sent it to my band and I’m sayin’ right you guys work out the melody when I get back, that our first tune you know.
Myf: Ahh that’s fantastic. You’re getting a lot of messages of support Luke, … Um who is currently in ahh central Australia at Uluru and is charged with the job to bring down all of the tourist… What do you call it? all that tourist stuff. That’s sitting on top of the rock.
Luke: Ahhh… All that White man stuff. You know. It’s a sacred place it shouldn’t be there. It’s remiss of me I forgot to pay respect to the Anangu people and elders past and present and emerging
MYF: Ah good on ya Luke!. Um. Your getting a lot of love here, err.. Love this guy, love that people can’t go up now says one on the text line. And um it is able to be enjoyed in its full glory now, and someone else has said This guy knows how to paint a picture. Luke you’ve got some fans already.
LUKE: So next day we get three chopper lifts with a long line. We’ve got all the stuff in the bag and Michael comes back with his chopper and we just clip on the bags and he does three flights down to the truck. Drops them off and then just flies off into the sunrise. And then it’s all on the ground. And then we transport it to the Rangers quarters in Rangerville(?) out at Mutitjulu which is on the eastern Flank of Uluru right next to the community there and then for the last week, four days it’s taken me. I’ve rebuilt that sucker. I turned all the stone around so the paint side is in. And I put all the Mt Conner stone facing out. And it’s beautiful. Everybody’s lovin it.
Damage to an important Survey marker
A source indicates the nail forming part of the summit trigonometric point under the cairn was removed from the survey marker thus damaging the survey point. This is a 1st order National geodetic base station. It is not functional without the nail. This appears to constitute damage under the provisions of the NT LICENSED SURVEYORS ACT 1983 section 62:
Destruction of survey marks
(1) A person shall not, without lawful authority, destroy, obliterate, remove, injure or deface a survey mark.Maximum penalty:100 penalty units. (2019-$15500)
(2) Where a person is found guilty of an offence against subsection
(1), the court may, in addition to any penalty imposed under that subsection, order him or her to pay the costs of re-establishing the survey mark so destroyed, obliterated, removed, injured or defaced.
The nail has been removed from the marker rendering it non-functional. Scientific heritage lost!
The response from the ABC presenter in laughing at the destruction of history is another example of how far from common decency ABC have drifted, and how ignorant they are of the heritage around them. Would Ms Warhurst also guffaw at the destruction of the Banimyan Bhuddas? or of Aboriginal Heritage? It's quite obscene.
This is how Parks Australia looks after our cultural heritage and important scientific infrastructure!
They should all be sacked, Minister included!
About the historic Summit Monument
The bronze directional plaque and summit monument celebrate the work of the Division of National Mapping and the Reserves Board of the Northern Territory. The summit trig point is a 1st order National geodetic base station, one of the stations used to help complete the Geodetic survey of Australia. The bronze plaque was cast in Melbourne and erected in December 1970 by Northern Territory parks staff including long-serving and well-respected head ranger Derek Roff (See below) under supervision of a surveyor from National Mapping, Bill Johnson who suggested the design. The formal monument replaced a stone survey cairn constructed in 1958 by National Mapping Reg Ford that in turn replaced the small pile of stones erected by William Gosse when he first climbed in 1873. The stones used to construct the 1970s pedestal were imported from Mt Conner due to concerns about the durability of the Ayers Rock arkose and the stone plinth incorporates rocks from the 1958 cairn. The bronze directional plaque points to features nominated in the 1987 World Heritage listing and appears as the "Lookout" in maps supporting that document. The inscription contains a small spelling error (Territories should be Territory) that has largely gone unnoticed. Parks Australia have neglected to maintain the plaque: the map of Australia and the Australian coat of arms that were a feature have been missing since the early 2000s. The pedestal included space for a logbook, but this has been clumsily sealed over. 171 logbooks containing the names of about 1 million climbers survive at the NT archives in Alice Springs. When the federal government took over management of the Park in the late 1980s the practice of maintaining the logbook was discontinued without any consultation.
For more information about the monument Xnatmap has a detailed description: Uluru - Ayers Rock Geodetic Trigonometrical Station – its 1970 remonumenting
See also out posts:
http://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2018/01/history-of-ayers-rock-summit-marker.html
https://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2018/06/ayers-rock-geodetic-station.html
Summit monument July 2018. It would have turned 50 in 2020.
Summit Directional plaque prior to being installed (Dec. 1970)
Monument under construction.
The rocks used to render the pedestal were imported from Mt Conner. The inner core stone from the 1958 cairn. Left to right George Page-Sharpe, Derek Roff (Head Ranger), Ian Cawood and Darrel Toon.
Job well done! Roberta Roff indicates the cast is as follows: left to right - Darrel Toon and Ian Dawkins - both maintenance workers, then Ian Cawood - Ranger - Derek Roff's 2 IC - and George Page-Sharpe - Ranger. (Thankyou Bobbie you are legend!)
Update. The Australia report: A stonemason indirectly employed by the federal government to help close the world-famous Uluru climb is understood to have been sacked for boasting about smashing the “ugly” summit cairn and rebuilding it inside out.
Full Transcript ABC report Cleaning up Uluru By Myf Warhurst on
Myf Warhurst
ABC online Thu 7 Nov 2019, 12:30pm
Start 1:10:11
Myf Warhurst: Well the sun is set thankfully on the Uluru
climbing trail but work on the rock continues obviously it is important work to
remove the tourist infrastructure from the sacred site. Things like the poles,
and the monument at the top, chains all of that. Luke Doyle is a stonemason
from Melbourne who’s been tasked with some pretty special jobs. And I reckon
this would be top of the list of things as well. He joins me from Uluru
now…Welcome.
Luke Doyle (stone mason from Melbourne): Hi… Myf… How are ya
darlin?
Myf: I’m good. I’m good, now what have you been doing up
there Luke tell me.
Luke: Oh my God, you wouldn’t believe it. Ha. Ha. I was
sittin’ at home. I’ve been unemployed for two years. I’m 58 I’m suffering from
rheumatoid arthritis. And being umm… I
got a call from my mate Dave. I’ve been working in heritage restoration in
Melbourne for twenty years. I spent 9 years working on St Pauls Cathedral
alone. And um. they said oh Mate I’ve got this Job, ahh coming across my desk
today. Very interesting job and I was just wondering if you were interested in
being part of the team. I need a stonemason, you know. I said Dave what's that?
He said… Some jobs are for passion and some jobs are for profit. And this is
definitely the former. And he said we got to take the stuff off Uluru mate.
Myf: Oh…WOW!
Luke: And I said you’re kidding. (indecipherable)
Myf: Amazing!
Luke: It’s… (indecipherable) You made me cry with that song,
(indecipherable) you made me cry. My emotions are just so close to the surface.
Myf: I bet, I bet
Luke: Such a special special place.
Myf: It’s a special place and obviously it’s very special to
you Luke , Um…Tell me what have you been doing, how did you get to the rock to
start the work, and what have you been doing up there?
Luke “So what happened, right, we got here, we spent two
days puttin’ up the site fences and everything to keep people away from the
base of the rock, in case any tools came down or anything came down. And then,
and then we went up and explored how easy it was to dismantle the chain. And
then we established that and the other boys started working on that. And then Wednesday
morning last week. Ahh 5:50am I meet at the helipad on the western flank of
Uluru, predawn. And my ride arrives, nice helicopter. Michael Zippa? He’s a
great guy. He is one of the best cowboy chopper pilots. He’s from Melbourne to.
So … we load up the tools. We load up the camera gear ‘cause there’s a
documentary being made about it. And all the other guys have walked up. My
boss has walked up, they’ve walked up and I get the chopper ride. That’s fun. And we rise up off the ground and as we rise
up we see the sun coming up and peaking over and casting all the beautiful
light on Uluru. And then we fly up, up, up, around. I’m coming closer, I’m
wondering, and I’ve never seen it, you know. I was here nine years ago, I
walked around with my boy (indecipherable). And me and my (indecipherable) and
we walked around (indecipherable). And
yeah there’s Dave sitting up on top on the cairn and he’s taking pictures of me
and I’m taking picture of him through the screen and Michael says you can open
that window there and put your phone out for a clearer photo, you know. Don’t
drop it. I’m going no, I won’t do it. So
I open the window and I’m taking pictures of Dave and he’s taking pictures of
me, and we’re getting closer and I’m taking pictures of him and he’s taking
pictures of me, and getting closer. And there’s all these big holes on the top
of Uluru where the water sits when it rains, you know. And he’s coming down
there, right next to it. He didn’t go the chopper pad, he come right down there
right next to the cairn. There’s a hole there, there’s a hole there. I’m going
watch them holes man, you know, what you’re doing, yeah! And he just puts me
down like a meter from the cairn and we unload the tools and see you later and
off he goes. And I look at it and it’s so ugly. It is hideous. The have painted
it orange. It’s got beautiful Mt Connor stone. From the Mt Conner is umm.. on
the approach ahh to the west of Uluru, you see it when you are driving on the
Highway and you think Is that Uluru? No that’s too soon. You know it’s another
100 ks yeah. but
Myf: And this is the cairn, the cairn Luke that you
are talking about? That marks the very top of Uluru.
Luke: Yeah, and it’s a geodesic, um, um they triangulated
all the, you know the geographical society or whatever triangulated everything,
Found the exact spot, drilled a hole in it, put a 5 cent piece down the bottom
of the hole, put a nail on top of that upside down, put some grout around the
nail so it held central in copper tube, and then placed the stand that the
plaque um is supported by exactly over that central spot. And then three bolts
into the ground, into the rock. And um..yeah. so
Myf: How do you get it off Luke? So that’s your job as a stone
mason on the top of Uluru. Your job is to take that cairn that’s been pretty
much bolted in to the rock. How do you do it?
Luke: And then the stone was built around that. So what I
do? Is ah. We got battery operated um little um demolition hammers and that.
And um, It’s 6 o’clock in the morning
when I land there right. 8 o’clock, by 8 O’clock I had the whole thing gone.
And we were unbolting it And Dave was just running to and from the bulka bags
emptying the 20 l buckets as quick as he could. In one with the rubble and one
with the rocks. And he couldn’t keep up with me. And he goes slow down, yu know
like I’m just pulling that sucker down and my first song when I get back with
my band the secateurs is going to be called smash the cairn.
Myf: cackling laughter
Luke: And it goes: Smash the cairn, smash the cairn, smash
the cairn cause I can.
Myf: laughter. I love it
Luke: I just wrote it while I been sitting here. It’s got 4
or 5 verses and I’ve sent it to my band and I’m sayin’ right you guys work out
the melody when I get back, that our first tune you know.
Myf: Ahh that’s fantastic. You’re getting a lot of messages
of support Luke, … Um who is currently in ahh central Australia at Uluru and is
charged with the job to bring down all of the tourist… What do you call it? all
that tourist stuff. That’s sitting on top of the rock.
Luke: Ahhh… All that White man stuff. You know. It’s a
sacred place it shouldn’t be there. It’s remiss of me I forgot to pay respect
to the Anangu people and elders past and present and emerging
Myf: Ah good
on ya Luke. Um. Your getting a lot of love here, err.. Love this guy, love that
people can’t go up now says one on the text line. And um it is able to be enjoyed
in its full glory now, and someone else has said This guy knows how to
paint a picture. Luke you’ve got some
fans already.
Luke: So next
day we get three chopper lifts with a long line. We’ve got all the stuff in the
bag and Michael comes back with his chopper and we just clip on the bags and he
does three flights down to the truck. Drops them off and then just flies off
into the sunrise. And then it’s all on the ground. And then we transport it to
the Rangers quarters in Rangerville(?) out at Mutitjulu which is on the eastern
Flank of Uluru right next to the community there and then for the last week, four
days it’s taken me. I’ve rebuilt that sucker. I turned all the stone around so
the paint side is in. And I put all the Mt Conner stone facing out. And it’s
beautiful. Everybody’s lovin it.
Myf: Did you take any pictures said someone on twitter? Um?
Luke: I sent you pictures, come on. I sent you about 6 pictures
this morning.
Myf: ahh. What we are going to do is put it on our program
page after the show. You need to go online and check out my program page Myf
Warhurst. We’ll put all those photograph on.
Luke: Ahh look… you know what’s been happening Myf? Every
afternoon I walk barefoot in the red desert sand up to the dune behind the
house here and watch the sunset and every day since the cairn has been off Uluru
I felt a sigh with relief . And you know my reward? the sunsets just get better
everyday. I have never… I’m really glad
I have 128 gig card in my bloody phone. Because the sunsets are incredible. I’ve
got like 4000 pictures you know. I’m going to write a book. You know and the
next day I like talking to um Nick
Woywood(?) whose wrote many books on the Waradgery down in Melbourne. He’s been
given an uncle name and he’s he’s he is my mentor and he said to me Luke your forte is storytelling mate, you want to talk
your story, you will get someone to write it down ok. I went to the pub that
night in Yulara and told these women my story, ahh Laura is her name and she’s
said Luke I want to be your ghostwriter, I’ll do it for free.
Myf…ohhhh,
Luke: And they’re from Richmond.
Myf: That’s Great!
Luke: And I said when I get back to Melbourne I might start
sending you stuff already. We’ve got to do this.
Myf: Luke, I look forward to reading that book, but just
tell me how does having this job, how is, how is it affected you? How do you
feel?
Luke: (Laughs) My life is just blessed. One moment after
another. I always believed that I’m in the right place at the right time. There
is a lesson in everything. There is a lesson in everything that happens in my
life, and the lesson for this is... I am dedicating my life now to the
Aboriginal cause, you know. I going to help people all over Australia, all the
aboriginal people get their lands back. Get their language back. Get their
songs back. You know it’s so disgusting and despicable what the Liberal
Government has done with Uluru Statement of the heart. I’m gunna just go
tomorrow, Canberra better watch out when I’m back, I’m going to Canberra .
Myf: he’s goin' to Canberrra. Lukes going to Canberra and
he’s on a roll and … Oh amazing! What an amazing experience Luke is having
there, a stonemason from Melbourne. Clearly completely overcome with emotion
from being able to bring down the infrastructure that is up on top of Uluru (Big
sigh). He’s got a message and he wants to get it through. Good on ya Luke. Um. Lots
of messages coming through for him “Love this guy”. Ahh “this guy is fabulous”
says James from St Kilda. Thankyou for all of those. Some else said awesome. Luke
is awesome. So, thankyou Luke. For calling in today. And sharing that experience.
Pretty amazing stuff.
End at 1:22:45
Post script: Luke was let go by the Contractor after this interview.
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