Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. Although Australia is categorized as a flat and arid desert, there is a large outdoor community that enjoys climbing the few crags and features that are present. It is not without controversy and opposition, and some climbing sites overlap with the sacred land of the Aboriginal Australians. Australian has a wide climbing culture including a large female population into the sport.
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Origins
The climbing culture in Australia originated the way it is today southeast of Queensland in the Blue Mountains. There seemingly endless sandstone walls and the imagining of the landscape represented in the local newspapers helped to spread interest in the sport. Between 1927 and 1938 there were 150 articles most of which are accompanied by photographs. The idea of climbing became entwined in popular culture between 1920 and 1930 as for the rest of Australia it would remain a post-war phenomenon.
All of the landscapes and features were incorporated into the Indigenous culture long before the Europeans came to Australia. There was little doubt that the Aboriginal people would have climbed all if not some of the mountains and landscapes.
Controversy
The climb to the top of Uluru is 1.6 km long and it takes about 2 hours to complete. There have been 35 deaths on the climb and most off those have been caused by heat attacks.
“Ayers rock is a sacred site and the Aboriginal owners ask you to respect their law and not to climb it” This is the official message from the Australian government for Uluru. There two main reasons are 1. The climbing rout is a sacred path of spiritual significance and is only taken by a few Aboriginal men on special occasions. 2. The path has hurt people and people have died and the aboriginal people feel responsible for these accidents. Despite this message thousands of people climb it each year.
There isn’t anything the Aboriginals can do and neither is it there stand to but a blanket “no” on things and in fact that it was a condition of them getting their land back was to let the walk trail stay open.
The main reason for this is simply the fact that many tourist that come to the site simply have no idea. The tourism companies do not advertise this fact since their business depends on it. Just because there is no law against climbing it is just discouraged so most of the time when they see the sign at the bottom of Uluru it is the first they have heard of the objection.