Uluru is a massive sandstone rock in central Australia that is sacred to the Aborigines of the area, who are known as the Anangu. In recent years, Uluru has also become important for New Age practitioners.
Believed to have been formed by the activities of ancestral beings in creation time (or Dreamtime), the beautiful site includes many caves, waterholes, and ancient rock paintings. Uluru is the traditional name for the rock, Ayers Rock is the name given by European explorers, and Uluru/Ayers Rock is the official name.
History
Australia’s native people believe themselves to be direct descendents of these ancestral beings, and continue to carry on the rituals and responsibilities associated with their ancestral land.
The aboriginals of western and central Australia call themselves Anangu, a word that originally meant simply “human being” but has come to refer to aboriginals (especially in western and central Australia) as opposed to Australia’s European descendents. The Uluru-area Anangu include two different language groups, the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara.
The beginning of human settlement in the Uluru region has not been determined, but archaeological findings to the east and west indicate a date more than 10,000 years ago. In October 1872, the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-native person to see the rock formation. He saw it only from a distance, prevented by a lake from approaching closer.
On July 19, 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited the rock and named it Ayers Rock in honor of the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.
The Aboriginal name was first recorded by the Wills expedition in 1903. Since 1903, both names for the site have been used, although Ayers Rock was the most common name used by outsiders until recently.
In December 1993, the site was officially renamed “Ayers Rock/Uluru.” The order of the names was officially reversed to “Uluru/Ayers Rock” in November 2002, following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.
On October 26, 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines, with one of the conditions being that the Anangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed. The rock and the surrounding park were designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Myth and Mystery
The Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, the Anangu, believe the Central Australian landscape was created at the beginning of time by ancestral beings. According to Aboriginal myth, the world was unformed and featureless until ancestral beings emerged from the void and journeyed across the land, creating all living species and the features of the desert landscape. Uluru is regarded as spectacular physical evidence of the ancestors’ activities during the creation period.
The record of Dreamtime can be found in the rock itself, its fissures, cliffs and caves. The main path up to the summit of the rock is the traditional route taken by aboriginal ancestors upon their arrival at Uluru in the creation time. Various outcrops represent different ancestral spirits, and by touching the rock, an Aborigine can invoke the spirits for blessings and communicate with Dreamtime.
According to one Aboriginal myth, two tribes of ancestral spirits were invited to a feast in the area, but became distracted by beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and dallied at a waterhole. Angry at being stood up, the waiting hosts sang evil into a mud sculpture that came to life as the dingo, a wild dog that has been known to carry off babies. There was a terrible slaughter followed by a great battle, which ended in the deaths of the leaders of both tribes. The earth itself rose up in grief at the bloodshed-and this is Uluru.
Uluru remains sacred to several Aboriginal tribes in the area, who still use it for rituals and leave paintings in its caves. The meanings of the rock’s features are passed on to youth in songs at initiation ceremonies conducted in the caves along the base of Uluru. The rock is also sacred to New Age practitioners, some of whom have adopted Dreamtime into their beliefs.
What to See
Uluru is an isolated sandstone rock (not technically a monolith) that stands 346 meters high and more than 8 km (5 miles) around. Roughly triangular in shape, it stretches for over 2 miles in length and nearly 2 miles in width. It has a harder exterior than most other rock formations, which allows for the unusually steep rock faces all the way to ground level.
Uluru is a completely bare rock without the least bit of vegetation, which only adds to its stark and mysterious beauty. By great contrast, however, the base of the rock is nourished by rain runoff from Uluru and is a fertile oasis of water pools, rich greenery and a variety of wildlife. It is thus an ideal ceremonial site for the Aborigines, who camp in the caves and are sustained by the water and available food.