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jack_spain
Joined: 03 May 2008
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Post subject: Don't think of climbing Uluru (Ayer's Rock)! | |
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Climbers may be barred from Australia's famed rock Uluru
Quote: | CLIMBING Uluru may be banned under a plan by the national parks service.
Climbing the 346m rock has long been opposed by the Nguraritja, the Aboriginal tribe who regained title to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in 1985 and consider it sacred territory.
The tribe and federal parks service jointly manage the site, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Signs at Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, already ask visitors not to climb, saying it is a spiritual place for Aborigines and warning that the steep, slippery climb can be dangerous.
More than 30 people have died while climbing the rock, which is higher than the Eiffel Tower and about 10km in circumference.
The draft 10-year management plan for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park suggests an eventual closing of the climb after the tourism industry has had time to come up with alternative activities. |
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25752375-661,00.html
Well I won't bother then.
But they better not stop me climbing Cradle Mountain or Frenchman's Cap in Tassie. |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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Not many people express themselves that way. Who is your favorite Science Fiction author? Does "it" still refer to [quote]
httpwww dotnewsdot comdot auheraldsunstory02198525752375-66100? |
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Nutmeg
Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Preston
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I climbed it on a school trip many years ago
Wished I hadn't - didn't really think about the significance of the place (I was 13 at the time) for other people. _________________ Collingwood es bueno para siempre
Ellos saben como jugar el juego.... |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: Andromeda
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Forgive my ignorance - what is the exact relevance of the site for the local tribe? And I assume from the article that the rock has no relevance to the rest of the Indigenous population.
What I'd like to know is how many people of Nguraritja descent remain, and what proportion of them care. I think there's a lot to be said for cultural sensitivity, but if you're only talking about a handful of people is it still relevant? _________________ All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005 Location: In flagrante delicto
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I'm a little bit with you David and a lot ambivalent. Having tourists walk all over it has to degrade the thing quicker than just leaving it alone, so what the hell is the harm in saying "no climbing". Tourists will still go there just to take photos and wander around the perimeter.
I'm not sure why it's become a sensitive topic in recent years from the local mob about people climbing it, whether they're just being precious or whether it has some real significance, but I don't really care that much.
no one's going to die if they don't have the "right" to climb Ayes Rock. _________________ Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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jack_spain
Joined: 03 May 2008
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Well, when are they going to stop the Everest express then?
Each summer now you get hundreds of climbers (some with little experience) being dragged up the world's highest mountain by the Sherpas. They believe the mountain (Chomolungma) is sacred too, but the Sherpa economy depends on it.
A rock is a rock is a rock. If people had built the structure then they might have a right to claim ownership of it. What are we going to stop next because some people believe there's something sacred about the place? Remember the Hindmarsh Bridge fiasco. |
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sharrod_theiceman
Joined: 25 May 2008 Location: St Kilda
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I've climbed it, would climb it again if it ever came up. They can go jump _________________ "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars...the rest I just squandered." - George Best |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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How far up? |
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jack_spain
Joined: 03 May 2008
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I can't resist that question HAL.
They can go jump 348 metres. |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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Can you please rephrase that with fewer ideas, or different thoughts? |
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tcnthat
Joined: 25 Jun 2007
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sharrod_theiceman wrote: | I've climbed it, would climb it again if it ever came up. They can go jump |
+1
Great experience to get up there. Would do it again if I went there. _________________ Black. White. Forever. |
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Culprit
Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Port Melbourne
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Tourists don't give a shit, that's the problem. |
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stoliboy
Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Sydney, NSW
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kickit2me
Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Location: Sai Yok Noi
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jack_spain wrote: | Well, when are they going to stop the Everest express then?
Each summer now you get hundreds of climbers (some with little experience) being dragged up the world's highest mountain by the Sherpas. They believe the mountain (Chomolungma) is sacred too, but the Sherpa economy depends on it. |
Sherpa's don't get welfare Jack. Neither do the Nepalese.
I climbed it in '88 but wasn't really up to speed with it's significance to the local Pitjantjanjara. I wouldn't do it again.
By the way David, there are still plenty of the Pitjantjanjara (2500 speak the language) scattered throughout Central Australia . Many of the full-bloods of Alice are Pitjantjanjara.
From Wiki:
Quote: | According to the Anangu traditional landowners of Uluru:[9]
"The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Anangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja."
There are a number of differing accounts given, by outsiders, of Aboriginal ancestral stories for the origins of Uluru and its many cracks and fissures. One such account, taken from Robert Layton's (1989) ULURU: An Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock,[10] reads as follows:
"Uluru (Ayers Rock) was built up during the creation period by two boys who played in the mud after rain. When they had finished their game they travelled south to Wiputa ..Fighting together, the two boys made their way to the table topped Mount Conner, on top of which their bodies are preserved as boulders" (Page 5)
Two other accounts are given in Norbert Brockman's (1997) Encyclopedia of Sacred Places.[11] The first tells of serpent beings who waged many wars around Uluru, scarring the rock. The second tells of two tribes of ancestral spirits who were invited to a feast, but were distracted by the beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and did not show up. In response, the angry hosts sang evil into a mud sculpture that came to life as the dingo. There followed a great battle, which ended in the deaths of the leaders of both tribes. The earth itself rose up in grief at the bloodshed, becoming Uluru.
The Commonwealth Department of Environment's webpage advises:[9]
"Many .. Tjukurpa such as Kalaya (Emu), Liru (poisonous snake), Lungkata (blue tongue lizard), Luunpa (kingfisher) and Tjintir-tjintirpa (willie wagtail) travel through Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Other Tjukurpa affect only one specific area.
"Kuniya, the woma python, lived in the rocks at Uluru where she fought the Liru, the poisonous snake."
It is sometimes reported that those who take rocks from the formation will be cursed and suffer misfortune. There have been many instances where people who removed such rocks attempted to mail them back to various agencies in an attempt to remove the perceived curse |
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JacJacJacqui
Joined: 13 Jun 2008 Location: B-town represent
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It's a rock. _________________
Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bombs
Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison through their system |
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