On this day: Aborigines get Uluru back

Traditional owner Reggie Uluru in front of Uluru, ahead of the 25th anniversary celebrations of Uluru's handover. (Photo: AAP) 
 

LYING AT THE PHYSICAL and cultural heart of our nation, the great monolith of Uluru is sacred to Australia's Aborigines for its place in the Tjukurpa - the 'creation period' - as well as a mecca for trourists drawn to this most iconic feature of the outback.

Twenty-five years ago, on 26 October 1985, it was the focus of a ceremony held to transfer custodianship of Uluru and neighbouring Kata Tjuta to its Anangu traditional owners. The ceremony, performed in the shadow of the immense rock, remains one of the most significant moments in the Aboriginal land-rights movement.

Governor-General at the time, Sir Ninian Stephen, acknowledged its importance to both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. "Today we stand not merely in the centre of our continent but at its very heart. We stand beside what has become one of our national symbols, what original Australians know as Uluru, and what the rest of it think of as Ayers Rock," he said.

The handover, described as "groundbreaking" by the director of the Central Land Council, David Ross, was emblematic of a growing awareness of the system of Aboriginal traditional law and land ownership that was ultimately recognised in the 1993 Native Title Act, passed by Federal Parliament.

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Under the terms of the handover agreement, the Anangu people leased Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service for 99 years, ensuring the public's ongoing access, as well as continued funds to the local community.

"Every year now ... they have put money towards community projects like BMX tracks, craft rooms, mechanical workshops [and] outstation renovations," says David.

While the agreement was broadly welcomed in most quarters, in others it was hotly contested. Philip Toyne, who negotiated the agreement with the Hawke Government on behalf of the Anangu, told the ABC in 2005 the agreement "was opposed at every turn by the Northern Territory Government of the day, by the tourist industry, by people who felt extremely threatened by Aboriginal people owning one of Australian's great icons."

First discovered by Europeans in 1873 (explorer William Gosse named it Ayers Rock after Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia) the area surrounding Uluru is believed, by the Anangu, to remain home to Tjukuritja and Waparitja - creators whose journeys and activities are recorded in the landscape.

Since the park was returned to its traditional owners, there have been more than seven million visitors. While many undertake the climb to Uluru's 348m summit in often searing temperatures, the Anangu ask visitors not to do so, as under traditional law the right to climb is restricted to senior men initiated into their culture.

Earlier this month Aboriginal people, with the help of the Indigenous Land Corporation, bought Uluru's Yulara resort from the commercial operator that owned it.

Aborigines get Uluru back

Aboriginal people buy Uluru resort

The Aboriginal Land Corporation has bought the Ayers Rock Resort for $300 million. 

Ayers Rock Resort has been bought by the Aboriginal Land Council.
(Photo: John Pickrell)

THE INDIGENOUS LAND CORPORATION (ILC) has purchased the tourist icon Ayers Rock Resort for $300 million. ILC chairperson Shirley McPherson has described it as an historic deal that will transform the tourism industry.

"They (Aboriginal people) have been sitting outside looking in and now they'll be there and part of the operations - they'll also operate the tours," Shirley told journalists on Friday. "When we did our research we only found one indigenous person that had been employed of the 670 (at the resort) and that's a crime."

The ILC has exchanged contracts to acquire the entire Yulara resort in the Northern Territory from Voyages Hotels and Resorts, including all hotels and accommodation, as well as the airport and workers' village. The deal is in partnership with the Wana Ungkunytja (WU), which represents indigenous business interests in nearby communities.

It will also see the establishment of a National Tourism Training Academy at Yulara, with 200 people in training each year from 2013.

Shirley says the ILC aims to have 50 per cent of the workforce at the resort to be local Aboriginal people by 2015. The agreement had been in the making for two years, she says. "This is coming from the community and we have found from past experience in the indigenous community that if it is not from the community it will not work."

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Long overdue

Federal Indigenous Employment Minister Mark Arbib says that greater Aboriginal participation in showcasing tourism to the world was long overdue. "The best way to bridge indigenous unemployment (and disadvantage) is through jobs," he said, adding the deal aimed to use training and jobs to economically empower Aboriginal communities.

Wana Ungkunytja chairwoman Margaret Smith says the community had previously felt excluded from sharing in the spoils of tourism. "Share, share, that's what makes us strong," she says.

Voyages Hotels and Resorts owner GPT will receive an $81 million payment on settlement of the transaction, expected in early 2011. The Indigenous Land Council will pay GPT a further $81 million 12 months after settlement and make a third payment of $138 million five years after settlement, bringing the total cost to $300 million.

The sale of the resort, which features a range of accommodation and eateries at Uluru in central Australia, completed the GPT group's exit from the hotel and tourism sector, chief executive officer and managing director Michael Cameron said in a statement released to the Australian stock exchange on Friday.

"Ayers Rock Resort is a unique and high-quality asset that continues to deliver solid returns but no longer fits with GPT's focus on Australian retail, office and industrial asset classes."

Aboriginal people buy Uluru resort