With direct air services, a modern tourist village an excellent road network, Uluru (Ayers Rock) attracts some 200,000 visitors a year, approximately a third from overseas.
Definitely a major tourist icon and a ‘bucket list’ location for so many, a Northern Territory survey reported that 85% of Australians have already visited Central Australia or intend to do so.
But it wasn’t always the case.
Long before European exploration, Uluṟu was a deeply significant place for Aṉangu people. A lived cultural landscape of waterholes, travel routes, hunting areas, ceremonial places and sites.
Early European Visitation
Initially, only the most intrepid traversed the harsh terrain. Explorer Ernest Giles was the first European to sight nearby Kata Tjuta in 1872, naming the unique rock formation the Olgas. William Gosse visited the great monolith the following year, naming it "Ayers Rock", its European name for over a hundred years.
Exploration, prospecting and government interest was gradual, with Lasseter's 1930s claim of a rich gold reef significantly raising the area’s profile.
World War II and Tourism Beginning
During the Second World War, Alice Springs was a major staging and supply centre. While 8,000 servicemen were based in the town and 200,000 personnel passed through the region, Uluṟu remained difficult to reach. Wartime transport was purely focused on moving personnel and supplies north.
When a formal track was constructed to Uluṟu in 1948, tourism began to grow, transforming Uluru/Ayers Rock from a remote Aboriginal cultural landscape to a significant tourist destination.
With regular tours from Alice Springs beginning in the 1950s, camping facilities, a mix of accommodation and an airstrip were established close to the great monolith. 5,400 tourists visited the park in 1962.
Photo: Ayers Rock campsite, 1952. Kevin Harris, State Library of South Australia
Famous the world over, Uluru/Ayres Rock is not only known for the massive sandstone formation rising dramatically from the rugged desert, but was the centre of two tragic incidents. The story of Lindy and Michel Chamberlain’s baby being killed by a dingo made worldwide news, followed by the death of five people when road train driver Douglas Crabbe drove his truck into a crowded bar.
A New Tourist Village
With numbers continually growing the existing infrastructure became over-stretched, and in the early 1970s the government planned to establish a completely new town outside the national park boundary. Approximately seventeen kilometres away from the Rock and named Yulara, it would include a campground, prestige, midrange and budget accommodation, an airport, school, fire station and medical centre.
The culmination of several decades of growing tourism access Yulara opened in 1984, fundamentally reshaping the relationship between tourism, government and the Aṉangu people.
Visiting Many Times
The Outback Adventures author visited what was then known as Ayres Rock well before living in Alice Springs. Firstly by running tours from Brisbane in the winter months for a number of years, and a decade later, as a side trip from a major tourism trade fair.
Our family spent their first Central Australian Christmas at the newly opened Sheraton Hotel (now known as Sails in the Desert) and made a number of subsequent visits.
Like all who visit, Uluru has certainly made an impact on us.
All Part of the Story
As all are largely set in Central Australia, Uluru/Ayres Rock is featured in William Sims’ books Outback Drama, Outback Danger and Outback Vengeance.
ULURU - NOT JUST A MAJOR TOURIST ICON