What is Uluru?

Uluru is a large red sandstone monolith in the southern Northern Territory, rising 348 metres above the surrounding plain and stretching about 9.4 kilometres around its base. It is the second-largest monolith in Australia after Mount Augustus in Western Australia, and one of the most recognisable natural landmarks in the world.

Uluru sits within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, jointly managed by the Anangu Traditional Owners and Parks Australia under a lease arrangement. The rock is a sacred site for the Anangu people, central to the Tjukurpa creation stories that record the actions of ancestral beings on the landscape. Aboriginal people have lived in the region for at least 30,000 years.

The site was sighted by Europeans in 1872 and named Ayers Rock in 1873 by explorer William Gosse for the South Australian Premier Sir Henry Ayers. In 1985 the Hawke government handed back the title to the Anangu Traditional Owners under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, with the land then leased back to the Commonwealth as a national park. The site officially became known by the dual name Uluru / Ayers Rock and now is most commonly referred to simply as Uluru.

Climbing Uluru was permanently banned on 26 October 2019, the 34th anniversary of the handback, after decades of requests by Anangu Traditional Owners who considered the climb disrespectful and unsafe. About 250,000 visitors travel to Uluru each year, staying at the resort town of Yulara and walking the base track, joining sunrise and sunset viewings, and visiting the cultural centre. Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), 30 kilometres west, is part of the same national park.