Uluru

I have recently improved one of my old essays: The Spirit of Uluru. This rock has fascinated many people and it has become one of the icons of Australia.

The rock is sacred to the local Aboriginal people, the Anangu. The many tourist visitors to the National Park who come to see Uluru does, however, cause great tensions, as the values of the Anangu are not recognised by the tourists.

The modern day tourist travels with an ethical rule: 'leave only footprints, take only pictures'. This rule is considered the foundation for ethical tourism.

For the Anangu, however, this principle conflicts with their idea of respect for something as sacred as Uluru. Their culture, which is codified in Tjukurpa, is based on exclusivity of knowledge. This knowledge is only available to those who are initiated and because some of the knowledge is coded within Uluru - its geological features illustrate stories from Tjukurpa - even looking at certain parts of the rock is tabu for those who are not initiated. For this reason, the Anangu do not want certain parts of Uluru to be photographed.

This is hard to understand for visitors from Western and Asian cultures. Knowledge is not considered sacred or secret in our culture. The tension is made greater by the fact that the tourist dollar is an important source of income for the Anangu. The cultural tensions between Anangu and the visitors is a fascinating subject.