Key facts
- The world’s largest monolith and iconic symbol of the Australian outback environment.
- Uluru extends six kilometres below the ground’s surface, more than 17 times its height above ground.
- While Uluru is often referred to as a monolith, the correct term for the formation is an inselberg - an isolated remnant of a mountain range that has survived the slow erosion of its surroundings.
- Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red.
Full story
Rising above the red desert as if planted by supernatural forces, there’s nothing like Uluru. One of the world’s largest monoliths, it is more than three kilometres long; two kilometres wide; 348 metres high; and more than nine kilometres around its base. It’s an island mountain, a geologic remnant left after an original mountain range eroded away. Like an iceberg, most of its bulk is below the surface.
The National Park in which Uluru is located, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, has a remarkable geological history. Five hundred million years ago, the entire area was covered by an inland sea. Uluru is now an isolated remnant of an original mountain range that has eroded over millions of years.
Uluru is one of the few UNESCO World Heritage properties listed for both its natural and cultural values. The international recognition of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park for meeting both of these standards represents correlates with the Anangu peoples’ belief in Tjukurpa, which is an ancient law relating to existence and the relationship between people, plants, animals and the land.
The monolith also has great Aboriginal cultural significance for the traditional custodians of the land the Anangu. The Anangu, believe the Central Australian landscape was created at the beginning of time by their ancestors. Their descendants have been protecting these sacred lands for thousands of generations since.
The Anangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance and ask that others respect their culture by not climbing it also.
The rock was named Uluru by its traditional landowners the Anangu people, however in 1873 the first European settler to sight Uluru, William Gosse, named the rock ‘Ayers Rock’ after former South Australian premier Sir Henry Ayers. Uluru was returned to the care and ownership of the Anangu in 1985 and they now jointly manage the national park with Parks Australia.
Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red. Although rainfall is uncommon in this semiarid area, during wet periods the rock acquires a silvery-grey colour, with streaks of black algae forming on the areas that serve as channels for water flow.
No one misses the sun rising or setting on the rock. At different times of the day the colours shift constantly, from pink to blood red to mauve. Each time you turn around there's a different hue. You can also learn about Tjukurpa, the traditional law at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre and discover sacred sites by walking around the base with an Aboriginal guide.
Not only is the Red Centre steeped in human history; it contains distinctive desert fauna and many rare species of mammals, birds, and reptiles not found anywhere else. Don’t miss the nearby 500 million year-old sandstone domes of 'Kata Tjuta' ('many heads').
Rising above the red desert as if planted by supernatural forces, Uluru truly embodies the heart and soul of Australia.