Skift Take
To be sure, there is a sudden surge of people, mostly domestic visitors, who want to climb Ayers Rock before October 26 when a ban is enforced. But there's more to the boom in the famous park in Australia's Northern Territory than just the rock.
The move to stop visitors climbing the sandstone monolith Uluru in central Australia has ignited a tourism boom and sparked heated debate led by divisive politician Pauline Hanson, best known for her anti-immigration rhetoric. She has criticized the right of Anangu, the monolith’s traditional owners, to prevent tourist access.
Hanson herself turned up to Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, on August 19 in a blaze of adverse publicity to climb the global tourism icon but turned back after becoming cowed by the scale and danger of the ascent, which has taken the lives of 37 people since the 1950s.
She was attempting to join an increasing number of visitors now climbing what is colloquially called “The Rock” before visitor access ends on October 26, a significant date marking 34 years to the day since ownership of Uluru and the surrounding red-dirt country was handed back to Anangu.
They believe Uluru and nearby Kata Tjuta (spectacular desert rock formations) are sacred, an integral part of their creation story, and three years ago announced it was time for climbing to end.
It was a move that met with widespread understanding while at the same time unleashing pent-up demand from Australians who felt they had a right to climb de
