Right to Climb Ayers Rock

Report from the NT News documenting the increasing numbers climbing Ayers Rock.
When we climbed in July significant numbers were climbing. Our Last Logbook recorded over 2400 names over 30 days from 33 countries. Not everyone would have signed, and the climb was not fully open most days.
Remember the summer season is not a great time to climb with the route closed for most of the time due to hot weather. If you want to climb before the ban, suggest trying in winter or late Autumn, or early Spring.

Coming soon from Connor Court Publishers...
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Climbing Ayers Rock gets featured in today's Australian...


Claims in this article by Sammy Wilson current Chairman of the UKNP that his grandfather Paddy Uluru was intimidated by former NT Ranger Derek are a load of nonsense and an insult to both men. If you read through Roff's account of his time at Uluru between 1968 and 1985 available through the NT Oral History unit, it clearly shows the two held great respect for each other. Roff was pivotal in closing off public access to the men's initiation cave at Paddy's insistence, and for facilitating the return of Aboriginal people to the their traditional lands and was entrusted with Aboriginal sacred artefacts. The cave was much more important to Anangu men than the Climb. Paddy said of the climb "the physical act of climbing was of no cultural interest". He was not the only elder to say so. Tiger Tjalkalyirri was one of the great entertainers at the Rock for many years, he acted as a climbing guide to tourists.…

My Poster on Geotourism presented at The inaugural Australian Geoscience Council Convention, AGCC 2018 at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Climbing Geological Wonders: Myth and superstition are preventing our enjoyment of the natural world.
Abstract
Adventure tourism in the form of hiking or climbing geological wonders is an important source of education and inspiration for current and future geo-scientists and interested tourists. Recent proposed bans on accessing important geological features in Australia; Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory, Mt Warning in northern NSW and St Mary's Peak in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, puts this source of wonder, inspiration and education at risk.
Other peaks under threat include:
Mount Tibrogargan and Mount Beerwah - Rhyolite plugs in the Glass House Mtns Qld
Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Range in Western Australia Paleoproterozoic meta-sedimentary basins
Mt Yengo - Basalt capped Mtn in the Cessnock region of NSW

Access to the natural wo…

Remonumenting Ayers Rock
Wonderful post by Xnatmapper Paul Wise describing the remonumenting of Ayers Rock in 1970.

Uluru - Ayers Rock Geodetic Trigonometrical Station – its 1970 remonumenting
Members of the 1970 Northern Territory Reserves Board monument construction team work on erecting the summit monument. Left to right George Page-Sharpe, Derek Roff (Head Ranger), Ian Cawood and Darrel Toon.
The Park Board have indicated they intend to remove the monument, chain and 5 memorial plaques from the Rock after the Climb is banned next year. If you care about these important items of Australian Cultural heritage and would prefer that they were left in place, write to your local member or the Prime Minister.

See also our posts:
Ayers Rock Geodetic Station construction 1970
History of the Ayers Rock Summit Marker: a pictorial record.

ULURU KATA-TJUTA NATIONAL PARK BOARD AND PARKS AUSTRALIA are up for a Bent Spoon award from Australian Skeptics for the ban on Climbing Ayers Rock.
The nomination reads....
Uluru (Ayers Rock) was probably first climbed by the first humans to arrive in central Australia about 30,000 years ago. This first group of humans left their mark on Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) in the form of petroglyphs that remain a mystery to both the current custodians and anthropologists. Based on the inclusion of the dingo in their creation myths the current custodians the Anangu people arrived at the Rock only about 4000 years ago. They also climbed it as demonstrated by their myth of the Hare Wallaby Men who dragged the “Ndaltawalta Pole” (a large flake of arkose on the northwest corner of the Rock) across the summit leaving the deep grooves that we now know are due to differential erosion. In the 1970s the traditional owners had no problem with tourists climbing the rock. Paddy Uluru who was recognise…

The Hon. Melissa Price MP
Minister for the Environment and Energy
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600.

Dear Minister
Cultural Vandals rip out the Heart of OZ
I have been informed that the Board of the Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park in collaboration with Parks Australia intend to effectively destroy four internationally significant cultural monuments at Ayers Rock once they ban visitors climbing it in October 2019. These include:
the summit monument, five metal plates placed in memory of people who have died climbing the rock, the chain, and of course banning The Climb itself.  It seems all trace of non-Anangu history and culture is to be wiped from the Rock, and the Federal Government are standing by and letting it happen. 
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 bronze plaque was cast in Melbourne and erected in December 1970 by Northern Territory parks staff including l…

Cross posted from Quadrant Online: Ayers Rock: a monolithic con job

Toby Naninga: Anywhere else is alright!
The current Board of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park claim that the climb is sacred and should not be accessed by visitors but in February 1975 a Traditional Anangu Elder and senior law man, Toby Naninga, provided a different view in an interview with ABC's current affairs show This Day Tonight. It seems aside from the Men's initiation cave, Warayuki, and the Ngaltawata pole, traditional owners at the time had no objection to tourists visiting any other area of ritual significance at Uluru. This includes the Climb!

ABC have not permitted me to show the full video in public as "the traditional custodians of Uluru have advised that this footage is not suitable for posting on social media". When asked why the reply from ABC was: "There are several reasons for this recommendation – such as aerial views of Uluru and the specific sites included in the footage.…