The Tip of the Iceberg

Uluru (Ayers Rock) emerges steeply from the desert sand and smoothes off toward the peak in what seems a rather unlikely shape for such a large rock. It is an absolutely breathtaking sight even for the most seasoned of travellers, taking on a stunning array of red and brown shades from dawn to dusk and sun to shade. It even transforms from the more familiar shades of red to grey during infrequent rain, with a myriad of small waterfalls cascading down its banded sides.

Uluru stands an imposing 348 metres above the surrounding desert and has a circumference of 9.4km. It measures 3.6 km long and 2.4 km wide oriented in an east-west direction. Rather like an iceberg, there is more of Uluru under the ground than above it which really brings home the enormity of it. Formed in Cambrian times, it was later tilted through uplift and folding so the horizontal strata now sits at almost 90Ëš which gives it the distinct vertical banding.

Uluru is made of feldspar rich sandstone called arkose which is mainly grey and white. The distinctive rust colour is caused by a thin coating of iron oxide on the outer skin. The changing colours of red at sunset are caused by light refraction as the sun sinks in the sky. The lower the sun goes it has to travel through more of the earth's atmosphere which bends the blue light away leaving the red light to intensify the Rock's red colour.

Kata Tjuta (the Olgas)

Approximately 30km to the west of Uluru stand the equally stunning 36 domes forming Kata Tjuta. The highest peak, Mount Olga, stands even higher than Uluru at over 500 metres. These two icons of Central Australia and the surrounding desert now form the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park which encompasses 132,566 hectares and is a World Heritage listed area. It was listed in two stages, originally for its outstanding universal natural values and later, for its outstanding universal cultural values. It puts those cultural values into perspective when you think that the local Aborigines have been living in the area for somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 years and are intrinsically linked culturally, spiritually and economically to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Uluru - Anangu

The Local Custodians

The word Anangu originally meant something along the lines of ‘person’ or ‘human being’ but since the arrival of Europeans it has come to mean Aboriginal person or human being. It is a word that is common in eastern dialects of the Western Desert Language spoken in the desert regions of West and Central Australia. The Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people are the traditional custodians of the land that encompasses Uluru and Kata Tjuta and like to be referred to as Anangu.

Tjukurpa - Aboriginal Law and Religion

While no accurate estimates of how long Anangu have lived in the area, it's fair to say that we're talking somewhere around 20,000 - 40,000 years ago; a very, very long time. The term Tjukurpa is like a guiding light to Anangu and how they live. It encompasses their law and religion, the past, present and future, their relationship with the land, the creation period, and how all these are all interrelated. Tjukurpa, when used to describe their origins, sometimes gets referred to as 'Dreaming' or 'Dreamtime', usually by non-Aboriginals. There is no corresponding word in Anangu language and Dreaming tends to imply that they are not real or are changeable. This is certainly not the case for them. While some of the stories may seem simple, they are in fact complex explanations of creation and how they fit and act within it.

According to Tjukurpa, the world was originally a barren and featureless place until the Ancestor spirits came to the world in human and other forms and created the features of the land, plants and animals as we know them now. During their travels across the land the spirits also created different relationships between various groups, plants and animals. When their ancestors work was done they transformed into hills, animals, plants, stars, etc, and are as present today as they were in the beginning and, into the future. The particular sites where these activities took place are significant sites to Anangu and there are stories associated with each of them. If they are very significant sites they are known as ‘sacred sites’, parts of Uluru and Kata Tjuta falling into that category.

Passing Down Stories

So the past, present and future are all alive and connected through their ancestor spirits and the stories that are told about them. These stories are passed down from one generation to the next through dance, stories, art, rituals and rites of passage. None is in written form. Some of the stories belong only to men, some only to women. Some inherit the right to knowledge through their birthplace or involvement in ceremonies, or certain families may hold the knowledge of a particular story.

Around Uluru and Kata Tjuta there are many stories, some that can be told and others that remain secret to the relevant group or members of local Anangu. Around Uluru there are two excellent walks that tell some of the secrets of Uluru and the ancestor spirits, the Mala walk and the Mutitjulu walk.

On the Mala walk visitors can learn how long ago Mala men and women came to Uluru from afar. They all camped separately from one another - young men in one place, older men in another, senior and married women somewhere else and the rest of the women and children in the middle. They had come for a special religious ceremony called Inma.

Mala men from the west arrive with a ceremonial pole which is planted on top of Uluru which signals the beginning of the Inma. The Mala are in good spirits, doing all their daily activities in a proper way as they should be done. Suddenly Luunpa, the kingfisher bird, cries out a warning to the Mala people telling them that people in the west have created a terrible dog like creature called Kurpany, to destroy their ceremony. The warning is ignored and Kurpany kills two Mala men. The rest of the men, women and children flee in terror. You can see many features that relate to the Mala story on the walk.

On the Mutitjulu walk you can see many features in and around Uluru that relate to creation activities connected with ancestral beings. The most well known of these is the story of two snakes, Kuniya and Liru.

Kuniya becomes furious by the lack of respect shown by Liru, the poisonous snake. In a bid to control the dark forces taking hold of her, she picks up some sand and lets it fall to the ground so no harm will come to others. However, she ends up attacking him in a rage and after inflicting a wound on Liru as he tries to fend off with his shield, a second fatal blow is hit. Kuniya has her honour avenged but in the fury that preceded, all the surrounding plants have been poisoned.

Uluru - European History

Venturing into the Red Centre

It wasn't until the early 1870's that the first Europeans starting venturing into Central Australia, primarily to find a route to the West Coast. It was in 1872 that Ernest Giles first came to the area and, while heading south west from Watarrka (Kings Canyon), sighted Kata Tjuta and Uluru further in the distance. As he tried to get closer to Kata Tjuta his attempts were thwarted by what is now Lake Amadeus, a giant salt pan. He tried going around the lake but it just kept on going and he was too far from a known water supply, his horses were tired and thirsty and so he had to turn back.

As Giles notes in his writings in 'Australia Twice Traversed', "I named this eminence Mount Olga and the great salt feature which obstructed me Lake Amadeus, in honour of two enlightened royal patrons of science".

Confusion Reigns

There is some confusion on the subject of Olga and Amadeus being in reference to the King and Queen of Spain but in fact Olga was Russian and became Queen Olga of Württemberg after marrying a German, Crown Prince Karl (later King) of Württemberg in 1846. Lake Amadeus was named after Amadeo I of Spain, an Italian who was the then reigning King of Spain.

There are also conflicting reports on what Giles had originally wanted to name Mount Olga and Lake Amadeus and which had been apparently changed at the request of Giles benefactor, German born Ferdinand von Mueller. There are historical references to both Lake Mueller and Lake Ferdinand and Mount Mueller and Mount Ferdinand. Certainly Mueller wanted to repay the compliment of having the title 'Freiherr' bestowed upon him by the King and Queen of Wurttemberg when celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, becoming Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. It seems that Amadeo had also decorated him, possibly for the introduction of the excellent properties of the Blue Gum (Eucalyptus Globulus) and so in all likelihood Mueller wanted to repay him as well.

It seems that Mount Ferdinand was in fact the name of a mount in South Australia that got changed to Mount Warrabillinna in 1917 during the First World War as part of a campaign to change German place names back to indigenous or British origin (Nomenclature Act of 1917).

The First European to Climb Uluru

In 1873 William Gosse, a surveyor appointed by the South Australian government, was assigned to the Northern Territory in a bid to map a route from the newly opened Overland Telegraph Station at Alice Springs all the way west to Perth. Departing from the Finke River they headed west following in some of the tracks of Giles and another famous explorer Colonel Peter Warburton. They came to Lake Amadeus and managed to cross the swamps at its eastern end. From the top of a sand ridge he saw a flat topped mesa tableland he named Mount Connor (Atila) after a South Australian politician. Also from this lookout he spotted another rock formation in the distance which he set off to.

Quoting Gosse from 'The explorers of Australia and their life-work' by Ernest Favenc, "When I got clear of the sand hills, and was only two miles distant, and the hill, for the first time coming fairly in view, what was my astonishment to find it was one immense rock rising abruptly from the plain; the holes I had noticed were caused by the water in some places causing immense caves." And so William Gosse named the rock Ayers Rock after the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. He became the first European to climb the rock which he did with one of his Afghan camel drivers Khamran.

Ernest Giles on his later expedition had a lovely way of describing the differing beauty of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. "Mount Olga is the more wonderful and grotesque; Mount Ayers the more ancient and sublime".

Opening Up the Interior

It was the opening of the overland telegraph line in the early 1870’s that prompted settlement of what is now Alice Springs. It grew as a direct result of the influx of pastoralists, miners and church missions that sprung up in the region such as the Lutheran Mission at Hermannsburg.

Large parts of the Northern Territory were taken up by pastoralists under pastoral leases issued by the South Australian Government which administered the Northern Territory from 1870 until 1911. By the 1880’s it was estimated that virtually the whole of Central Australia was under lease or lease application. Many of the runs taken up were immense in size, most running in the thousands of square kilometers. Generally it was sheep that were initially adopted but they were later replaced by cattle as the main produce.

For Aboriginal people this was a story of invasion and dispossession of their lands and water holes. This led to an uneasy relationship between them and the pastoralists that often ended in violence and the killing of cattle. Strangely enough, it was Aboriginals that became an important part of the pastoral industry as labourers and farm hands until equal wages were introduced in the late 1960s and a little later, aerial mustering. This led to a large drop in numbers from that point.

Boom and Bust on the Land

Pastoralism was originally one of the great industries of the Northern Territory and still plays a part today, although much reduced. The story of pastoralism in the Territory has generally been one of boom and bust due to the holdings being too small and unsustainable (bizarre that a couple of thousand square kilometers might be unsustainable), long periods of drought, the great depression, wars, the harsh environment, etc. Many of the runs have been consolidated into even bigger holdings to make them sustainable and large tracts have simply been abandoned. As part of the 1976 Land Rights Act, large parcels of land have been returned to the Aborigines with more to come as pastoral leases expire.

Today many of the cattle stations in Central Australia have been in the family for many years and it is not uncommon to find 3 - 4 generations living and working on the same station. Some like Kings Creek Station and Curtin Springs were originally started as cattle stations (plus live camel exports in the case of Kings Creek) but the boom in tourism and their proximity to Kings Canyon and Uluru provided the opportunity to diversify into tourism to supplement income, which now plays a major part in their operations.

The spectacular growth in Alice Springs from approximately 950 in 1939 to over 25,000 today can be directly attributed to the rise in tourism and associated industries. To give an idea of just how fast tourism has grown in Central Australia, the Severins of Curtin Springs Station reputedly only saw 6 people in their first year living on the station in 1956. Today they host up to 40 tour coaches a day that stop for food and refreshments. Always good to be in the right place at the right time.

Uluru - Geology

The World's Largest Monolith?

It's quite amazing that there could be such differing views on the geology of the world's most famous rock, Uluru (Ayers Rock). For years it has been known as "the world’s largest monolith" and still is in some quarters. It certainly adds to the drama of such an awe inspiring icon with a grand description.

First up, if Uluru was a monolith then it certainly isn’t the largest on the planet. That distinction goes to another Australian, Mount Augustus in Western Australia which is approximately 2.5 times larger in mass and rises to 858 meters above the surrounding land. So there goes the largest monolith theory.

Secondly, there is considerable weight behind the theory that Uluru is not actually a monolith, i.e. a single rock, but is actually part of a huge predominantly underground rock formation that also includes Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) 35km to the west and Atila (Mount Connor), a mesa tableland, approximately 100km to the east of Uluru.

The truncated theory goes that more than 600 million years ago large parts of Central Australia were below sea level in what is called the Amadeus Basin. Rivers from nearby mountains dumped large quantities of sedimentary rocks into the Amadeus Basin which then started to rise out of the sea about 500 million years ago. With little or no vegetation to protect the mountains from erosion, great rivers would have formed carrying tonnes of sediment which would quickly build to form alluvial fans. Layer upon layer would have build up and which would eventually form Uluru from a section of one of the alluvial fans. The sea eventually invaded the area again depositing more sand and mud burying the alluvial fans. Over this whole protracted period the profound pressures and squeezing together transformed the deposited sand, gravel and mud, etc into solid rock.

Between 400 - 300 million years ago the area was subjected to another bout of mountain building and landmasses colliding causing more uplift, folding and faulting, breaking up the alluvial fan and the various layers above and below. The future Uluru was a part of one of these alluvial fan sections which has been tilted on its side at almost 90° so all the sedimentary layers are on their side.

After millions and millions of years of continued weathering, Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Atila survived the erosion as they were made of harder rock than that which surrounded them. More recently, about 70 - 60 million years ago, the climate was much wetter which then washed sand and other elements back into the low lying land which smoothed out the landscape leaving only Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Atila protruding out of the desert.

So, quite possibly Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Atila are all part of one giant mostly underground rock formation, stretching some 130km. However, as all three rock formations have slightly different composition and we know Uluru extends further below ground than above, then to your average person Uluru is a bloody big rock, monolith or not, and truly fantastic.

Uluru - Tourism

From Small Beginnings

The first tourists travelled to Uluru in 1936 but it wasn't until the 1950s that tourism really started to take off once a track to Uluru was completed in 1948. From the 1960's there was a steady increase in visitor numbers but from 1984 on, the rate of increase was much greater with a doubling of numbers over 5 years in the late 80s to over 200,000 visitors. Today, there are nearly 400,000 visitors to the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, making it the most popular arid land National Park in Australia.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta were taken out of the Aboriginal Reserve and established as a national park in 1958. After years of Aboriginal Land Rights activity, it was in 1983 that Aboriginal title to Uluru was acknowledged by the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. By 1985 the traditional owners were granted ownership of the National Park under an agreement to lease it back to the Federal Government on a 99 year lease. Today many Anangu work within the Park as well as having a majority on the Park Board of Management. In 2005 the first indigenous Park Manager was appointed which nicely corresponded with 20 year celebrations of ownership for Anangu. The Park became listed as a World Heritage natural property in 1987 and re-listed again in 1994 as a significant cultural landscape.

There were motels and an airstrip built at the base of Uluru in the late 50s but with tourism on the increase and the adjacent areas suffering adverse environmental impact, they were closed down in 1984. This coincided with the opening of Yulara Resort about 20km north of Uluru on the Park boundary.

The Cultural Centre within the Park was established in 1995 and is great place to visit first upon arrival at the Park. Armed with a little knowledge of Anangu culture and the wider environment will make exploring around the park that much more interesting and enjoyable. You can learn about Tjukurpa (Aboriginal law, religion and knowledge), Anangu art, their way of life, foods they eat, wildlife, etc. There are excellent displays, photo collages, sound panels outlining oral history, videos, artefacts, etc. Explanations are in Pitjantjatjara, English, Italian, German, French and Japanese.

To Climb or Not to Climb

Local Anangu ask that people don't climb Uluru, a request that is slowly getting more traction (excuse the pun) with signs at the base of the Rock and the more culturally aware tour operators informing their customers of Anangu sentiments. This is due to a couple of reasons. One is that the path crosses over an important Tjukurpa site but almost more importantly Anangu, as custodians, feel a sense of responsibility for visitor safety. In the end, the choice belongs with the individual to make up their own mind.

It's actually quite a long and initially very steep walk up that takes about 3 hours to complete. For those deciding to climb, they should take plenty of water and have good walking footwear on. Unless you want first hand experience of life inside a commercial potato peeler, then don't do what some tourists do, climb with leather soled shoes. There have been a steady number of fatalities due to climbing Uluru, some from slipping down the edges (yow!) but most are from heart attacks that often happen a day or 2 after the victims have actually climbed the Rock. Also be aware of the heat as that rock gets mighty hot in summer and Park Management do close the climb outside certain temperature ranges.

Uluru - Climate

The Arid Continent

With much of Australia lying between 20° and 30° south, combined with such a large land mass, it isn't surprising that the country has its fair share of deserts. In fact Australia is the driest continent on earth with approximately 70% of its area termed arid or semi arid. The most arid parts of Australia are the western and central parts of the continent and other than a few coastal patches to the north, east and south, the rest of Australia is termed semi-arid.

While Central Australia is a dry place, it certainly does rain. Alice Springs gets about 275 mm of rain a year falling mainly between October and March. The average rainfall decreases as you move south with the Lake Eyre basin receiving about 100 - 140 mm per year. Alice Springs, sitting at the base of the MacDonnell Ranges, actually has higher average rainfall and slightly lower average temperatures than the rest of Central Australia due to the higher altitude.

Most rain in Central Australia is the result of summer monsoon activity that brings large volumes of rain to northern Australia as well as tropical cyclones that originate off the north-west coast. In both instances it is the frequency and degree that the monsoon troughs or cyclones penetrate south and inland that determine the amount of rain that falls. Luckily it is the predominantly flat terrain that allows these events to happen with the frequency that they do as there are no mountain ranges to block the moisture from the north and north-west.

Feast and Famine

Like most desert regions, rainfall and temperatures can vary greatly. It is not uncommon for an average year's rainfall to occur in a single month and sometimes, in a single day. From 1973 - 1976 was a particularly wet period where parts of Central Australia received double their average rainfall over the 4 year period. Lake Eyre filled up, which is very rare, as well as widespread flooding throughout the interior. Between 1999 and 2001 was another very wet period with some locations getting nearly 3 times their normal rainfall. Conversely, there are times of sustained dry periods such as the "Federation Drought" that occurred between 1895 and 1903 that led many pastoralists to abandon their stations.

Alice Springs average monthly rainfall in mm

Without wanting to state the obvious, summers are very hot in Central Australia. The average maximum temperature is over 35° in December, January and February but it is quite common for temperatures to go over 40°, but unlikely to exceed 45°. Cloudless days and dry air cause large ranges in temperature between night and day, often as much as 20°. Below average summer daytime temperatures are usually associated with rain activity.

What many visitors to Central Australia often don't realise is that temperatures in winter, particularly overnight, can be very cold with morning frosts quite common. The lowest recorded minimum was -7.5° which happened in 1976 and the lowest maximum 7° in the same year. Over June and July average daytime highs do go up to around 20° but with the shorter daylight hours, don't stay there for very long. If the wind blows from the south-east there can be quite a severe wind chill factor. There have even been instances of snow in a few areas with snow falling on Uluru (Ayers Rock) in July 1997.

When travelling into Central Australia it is worth remembering that like most desert regions, they are subject to quite dramatic variances from the norm so it is best to be well prepared, particularly in winter with plenty of warm clothing.

Uluru - Surrounding Desert, Flora and Fauna

More than Meets the Eye

Contrary to what many people assume, Central Australia is anything but a flat monotonous desert. Alice Springs is located at the base of the MacDonnell Ranges which stretch for over 400km in an east-west direction in parallel ridges with flat valleys between. They were formed through massive earth movements some 300 million years ago, breaking up what was then a sea bed as fossil remains testify. Being so old and weathered, generally they extend up only around 300 metres from the valley floor but are a sensational sight and more importantly, facilitate a number of permanent water holes and provide sanctuary to a large number of plant and animal species.

Just south of the West MacDonnell Ranges are the Gardener and James Ranges and a little further south-east is the George Gill Range which is home to the infamous Kings Canyon at Watarrka National Park, the site where the cult movie 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' was shot. Another 120km or so further south-east lie Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) which rise approximately 350 and 500 metres respectively from the desert floor. The greater area around these two icons is a sandy plain with low lying sand dunes.

Even though the region of Central Australia only receives between 100 - 300 mm of rain per annum, there is still a rich and diverse range of plants and animals. A large part of this diversity can be attributed to these mountain ranges and rock formations. They can assist this diversity in a number of ways, namely; they can influence and often increase local rainfall, provide permanent or semi-permanent water holes, moderate temperatures compared to sand environments and provide shelter and refuge in caves, overhangs and crevices.

Adapting to the Environment

However, many species have had to adapt to the unpredictability of weather in Australian deserts, with periods of long dry spells punctuated with short blasts of rain.

Plants have adapted to the low and unreliable rainfall in two main ways -drought tolerance and drought avoidance. To help plants tolerate the desert many plants have features that aid water storage and minimise water loss. Many plants have small and / or very few leaves which are often hard with a waxy or hairy surface. The leaves often point downward so as to reduce the exposure to the sun. Others have succulent leaves or underground tubers for water storage while others have very deep root systems that enable them to tap into underground water supplies.

Other plants avoid drought by essentially remaining dormant throughout dry periods. For annuals and biennials they remain dormant as seeds until a major rainfall and then spring to life, and reproduce over a relatively short space of time. For perennials, they can lie dormant over long periods and then spring to life again when a decent rain comes. Many grasses display this trait while trees of this nature show more deciduous tendencies, sprouting new shoots and leaves after good rain.

For desert animals there are a number of responses to the high heat and lack of water. One of the easiest ways for animals to avoid the heat of the day is to be nocturnal and hunt at night. Almost all mammals in the desert are nocturnal and about half of reptiles, although most birds are not. Many animals have burrows underground which moderates the temperature and means the burrows are cooler during the day and warmer at night.

Many species also hibernate to get around extreme climatic conditions which lowers metabolic rate, conserving water, energy and lowering temperature. Some desert frogs lead a bizarre existence, burrowing underground on sandy watercourses and claypans when it's dry and can live like that for months or years in an inactive state. When the rains come, they spring to life burrowing to the surface to feed and mate and then burrow underground again when it dries out.

All Those Critters

Insects are by some margin the largest group of animals in the desert in terms of number and biomass. There is barely a square metre in the desert that doesn’t have ants roaming around. There is prolific reptile and lizard fauna in Central Australia including a large variety of snakes, geckos, goannas, skinks and dragons. It is also home to Australia's largest lizard, the Perentie, which can grow up to 2.5 metres in length. There are approximately 150 species of birds and of course, kangaroos and wallabies. Surprisingly, there is also a reasonable variety of freshwater fish, molluscs and crustaceans that occur in streams, waterholes and springs.

So if thinking about visiting outback Central Australia, expect a lot more than a barren and monotonous landscape. It changes regularly, has a host of interesting wildlife and will amaze at the sheer magnitude and timelessness of it.