Uluru

Uluru is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in Australia

Uluru also known as Ayers Rock is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in Australia. The nearest large town is Alice Springs 335km (208mi) away. It stands 348m (1142ft) hgihg rising to 863m (2831ft) above sea level (most of it lies underground) and it has a perimeter of 9.4km (5.8mi).

The local Aboriginal people the Pitjantjatjara Anangu call the landmark Uluru. In 1873 a surveyor William Goose sighted the monument and named it Ayers Rock after the then Chief Secretary of South Australia Sir Henry Ayers. In 1993 a dual naming policy was adopted allowing official names for both.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

First tourists arrived in the area in 1936. From the 1940s the permanent European settlement for the reasons of Aboriginal welfare policy and help promote the tourism of Uluru. In 1958 the area that would become the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was excised from the Petermann Reserve.

On 26th October 1985 the ownership of Uluru was returned to the local Aborgines with one of the conditions being that they would lease it back to National Parks and Wildlife Agency for 99 years and it would be jointly managed.

After several controversial incidents in 2010 in 2017 the Park board voted to prohibit climbing Uluru. The ban took effect in October 2019.