By Adeshola Ore
MELBOURNE, Aug 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For the Anangu people, Uluru, the iconic sandstone rock that juts from Australia’s “Red Centre”, is a holy area, holding the stories of their ancestors.
But it is also the country’s landmark tourist attraction and, until recently, visitors could regularly be seen climbing the sacred rock formation.
Now, it has become one of the latest regions in the country to grapple with the question of how best to protect indigenous cultural heritage.
From mountains to beaches, Aboriginal groups across Australia are pushing back against public access to heritage sites, in an attempt to preserve areas of historical and spiritual importance.
“Aboriginal people are very concerned about protecting sacred sites because they are our cultural landscapes,” said Benedict Scambary, head of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority.
At the base of Uluru, previously known as Ayers Rock, placards share the history of the Anangu people and request that people not climb the rock formation.
But visitors have continued to ignore the signs.
So, two years ago, the park’s management board voted to ban climbing on the site, starting in October 2019.
Photos posted to social media in July showed long lines of tourists snaking up the rock, to get in one more climb ahead of the ban.
Further south, in the state of Victoria, the Grampians National Park is another area rich with indigenous heritage and is known to rock climbers as a world-class climbing destination.
In February the state environment body banned rock-climbing on eight sites which together make up about one-third of the park, citing various reasons, including damage to the indigenous rock artwork.
“We welcome the government’s decision to close down those sites,” said Jason Mifsud, the chairman of the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, one of the three traditional owner groups that act as caretakers of the site.
“The promotion of cultural heritage is the first principle, (along with) the celebration and story-telling that goes with that cultural heritage,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
The expansive, forested Grampians area in southern Australia is home to a large collection of indigenous rock art sites, which are used for sacred ceremonies.
Parks Victoria said it instituted the recent ban to give it time to work on a new management plan in consultation with the area’s traditional owner groups.
The new plan will encompass environmental conversation, protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage and improved support of recreational activities, according to a Parks Victoria spokesman.
The move has sparked fury from climbing groups who say they were not consulted about the ban and have been given no part in building the management plan.
“We’re really interested in sitting down with traditional owner groups and understanding if there’s anything in the climbing activity that is problematic and then understanding how we can remove that impact,” said Jackie Bernardi, vice president of the Australian Climbing Association Victoria.
But Parks Victoria said it is in discussions with bodies that represent climbers and highlighted that the new management plan will include a public consultation phase.
Mifsud of the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation said the group is willing to work with climbers and tour companies to find a long-term solution.
But, he stressed, the plan “will not compromise on cultural heritage”.
