Row over climbing at Ayers Rock

To view the original article Click Here

Title – Row over climbing at Ayers RockSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th July 2009

Well if you are reading this expecting a definitive answer to this question from me you are going to be sadly disappointed. Do I have a personal opinion on the matter? Well I know what I would do when I was confronted with the decision.

The first step is what should we be calling this majestic rock; Ayers Rock or Uluru? Here again I think the arguments are divided, but I don’t believe that they are significant, in fact I am not a great believer that indigenous names or ‘British’ names have a great deal of significance unless they were devised to offend, oppress or deride local cultures.

To climb or not to climb is slightly more complicated. As always I think our role is not to dictate but to educate. Let’s not tell people what to do or what to think, but give them the information to think for themselves; at least while the decision to climb or not is still one they can make.

Australia has been battling with its conscience for several decades; they have tried hard to right many of the wrongs of history since colonisation. It’s a battle not easily resolved, colonisation happened and it can not be undone, but a ‘happy’ medium can be found.

The Aborigines have won many arguments and concessions from the Australian government and lost others. Some would say the Aborigines have done well out of recent settlements while others say that having lost everything, any concession they win is not a victory but merely a small step towards recouping what was theirs anyway.

The argument with climbing Uluru / Ayers Rock (delete as appropriate), for me is relatively straight forward. There is no doubt it is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people. Their belief is that it disrespects their spirits to climb the rock. Where is the argument?

The argument that we don’t scramble over mosques, churches and temples when it offends those people who worship in those places seems quite reasonable. After all when entering a Buddhist temple we remove our shoes to avoid offending local sensibilities, in a Sikh temple we will when directed cover our heads and we wouldn’t stand on the alter in a church to get a better view of the murals…

Maybe I have just revealed my view point after all.

The fact is it is still down to each individual to make a choice. My suggestion would be that on a visit to the rock, first one of the tours with an aboriginal guide, not only to understand the fascinating stories they will tell of their heritage and of the rock, but because it will give you the information to make your own informed decision.

The rock itself will continue to inspire anyone who comes across it and although the tourist facilities now take a little away from it’s splendid isolation, anyone not impressed by sunset at the rock should probably consider a rethink on the rest of their trip…

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Ethical and Responsible Travel, alongside sessions on Travel Health, Travel Safety, , Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.