Sydney Knitting Nannas and sisters Anne and Kathy met up at Uluru for a week’s tour of the red centre in the Northern Territory. Nanna Anne had driven from Sydney with a friend and two hitchhiking Nannas, Eartha and Nola.
Uluru
“Uluru should be a pilgrimage for all Australians”, said first time visitor Nanna Kathy as she watched the sunset over this sacred Aboriginal site, located in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
The traditional owners and guardians of this area are the Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara and Anangu people. Custodianship of Uluru was transferred to the traditional owners in 1985. As part of the handover agreement, they leased the national park area to the Australian Parks & Wildlife Service for a term of 99 years. The national park is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Ayers Rock Resort 25km away at Yalara, has various accommodations from luxury to camping and all levels in between. Buildings are spread out so there is no sense of the high visitor numbers, even in the school holiday peak season.
The resort and the tourist facilities around Uluru are well maintained and blend with the natural environment as much as possible. It is greatly improved since Nanna Anne was there 17 years ago.
Kings Canyon Watarrka
A variety of walking tracks are provided to encourage all levels of ability to engage with the environment.
The Nannas were pleased to see so many young people on the walks. Some parents had taken their children out of school for a term or longer so they could travel around Australia. These children are our future. Having seen and experienced Australia we hope they will value and help protect it.
From Kings Canyon the Nannas travelled on a gravel road through a changing landscape with mountains on either side – some resembling a caterpillar. A very red and sandy road took us to Gosses Bluff, a very sacred place known as Tnorala to the Western Arrernte language group. Here we were alone inside a crater that is thought to have been formed by an asteroid or comet.
Ormiston Gorge, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Simpson’s Gap
Views of Mount Sonda from the road brought the Nannas to the Ormiston Gorge in the Tjoritja West MacDonnell National Park. We had to take off our shoes to wade across water to the walking track which is usually dry.
Ellery Creek Big Hole was full of water too as was Simpson’s Gap.
Alice Springs
Nanna Anne stayed on in Alice Springs to attend the 10 years celebration of the Central Australian Frack Free Alliance (CAFFA). They are working hard to encourage Tanya Plibersek to use the water trigger to prevent the shale fracking project at Beetaloo. The singer – Emmy Ryan was great.
Recently, buffel grass has been declared a weed in the NT and many say this came too late. Buffel grass is an introduced grass species that is drought resistant and commonly used by pastoralists as cattle feed and a soil stabiliser.
Buffel grass’ resilience to fire enables it to survive and quickly produce new growth after burning. This can create a fire hazard by providing more fuel for fires, increasing the frequency and intensity of fires which impact communities, culture and the environment.
While staying in Alice Springs Nanna Anne joined a friend’s Landcare group to weed out buffel grass on crown land. The difference is extraordinary. After many years of weeding it out the rewards are clear to see. The earth can breathe, and native plants are coming back – it’s no longer a monoculture.
NT Tourism
Before Covid Central Australia had around 250,000 visitors a year. Numbers are increasing but are below previous levels.
Cultural heritage is explained well at each culturally significant site, and it is respected by most visitors. Another example of how tourism in the NT is done well is the variety of walking tracks and ways to see the attractions at each destination. The main roads are bitumen and in good order and the car parks and shelters are well maintained and made to blend in with the environment as much as possible.
NT National Parks passes are only available to buy on the internet but it’s not easy to do. One of the reasons given for extracting gas in the Beetaloo Basin is because the NT Labor government needs more money. Nanna Anne’s easy solution is to make it easy to buy a pass!
Tourism does have an effect on the environment, but good access makes more people want to go to these special places, and the more people who see them, the more they want to protect these places in our ancient land.
When tourism is done well it offers economic advantage, and a sustainable future for communities. It improves roads and infrastructure for all and provides training, education and employment opportunities for local people.
Preventing overtourism requires a crowd management plan which could include –
- Limited visitor numbers in special areas
- Space between local communities, tourist facilities and attractions
- A visitor’s tax charge for non-Indigenous people and interstate and overseas visitors.