Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park is part of an extensive Aboriginal cultural landscape. The Park represents the work of Anangu and nature during thousands of years. Its landscape has been managed using traditional Anangu methods governed by Tjukurpa, which is Anangu Law.
Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park contains Uluru, which is arguably the most distinctive landscape symbol of Australia, nationally and internationally. It conveys a powerful sense of the very long time during which the landscape of the Australian continent has evolved. Far from the coastal cities, and with its rich red tones, it epitomises the isolation and starkness of Australia’s desert environment. When coupled with the profound spiritual importance of many parts of Uluru to Anangu (Western Desert Aboriginal people, see Figure 2), these natural qualities have resulted in the use of Uluru in Australia and elsewhere as the embodiment of the Australian landscape. As a consequence, Uluru has become the focus of visitors’ attention in the Central Australian region, while other parks offer a complementary range of experiences.
The Park consists of the Uluru - Katatjuta Aboriginal Land Trust Aboriginal freehold land. It covers about 1325 square kilometres and is 335 kilometres by air and about 500 kilometres by road to the south-west of Alice Springs (see Figure 1). Living in the Park are members of the Mutitjulu Aboriginal Community, made up of about 400 Anangu, other community workers and some Park staff. The Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara adjoins the Park’s northern boundary. Both the Park and the Resort are surrounded by Aboriginal freehold land held by the Petermann and Katiti Land Trusts (see Figure 3).
Uluru is a sandstone monolith some 9.4 kilometres in circumference and rising about 340 metres above the surrounding plain. Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) comprises 36 rock domes of varying sizes. One of the domes, rising about 500 metres above the plain (or 1066 metres above sea level), is the highest feature in the Park.
In addition to the important geological features of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, the Park contains some outstanding examples of rare desert flora and fauna. More than 400 plant species are found there, among them seven rare or endangered species, which are generally restricted to the moist areas at the bases of Uluru and the domes of Kata Tjuta. Twenty-one species of native mammals, including several species of small marsupials,
Figure 2 Approximate present day extent of Western Desert language speakers
native rodents and bats, have been recorded there, as have over 170 species of birds, many reptile and invertebrate species, and a number of species of amphibians.
The Park’s outstanding natural and cultural heritage values are acknowledged through inscription on the World Heritage list. At present, Uluru - Kata Tjuta is one of only 22 World Heritage sites listed for both their natural and cultural heritage; in 1994 it became the second national park in the world to be recognised as a cultural landscape by the world Heritage Committee. It is also on the Register of the National Estate because of its national significance to the present and future generations of Australians and since 1977 the Park has been listed as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program.
The Park is assigned by this Plan to the IUCN Category II, National Park. This is a protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation.
Aboriginal people and their culture have always been associated with Uluru. According to Anangu, the landscape was created at the beginning of time by ancestral beings. Anangu are the direct descendants of these beings and they are responsible for the protection and appropriate management of these lands. The knowledge necessary to fulfil these responsibilities has been passed down from generation to generation through Tjukurpa.
During the 1870s, expedition parties headed by explorers Ernest Giles and William Gosse were the first Europeans to visit the area. As part of the colonisation process, Uluru was named ‘Ayers Rock’ and Kata Tjuta ‘The Olgas’ by these explorers in honour of political figures of the day. Further explorations quickly followed with the aim of establishing the possibilities of the area for pastoral expansion. It was soon concluded that the area was unsuitable for pastoralism. Few Europeans visited over the following decades, apart from small numbers of mineral prospectors, surveyors and scientists.
Figure 3 Aboriginal communities and their proximity to the Park
In the 1920s the Commonwealth, South Australian and Western Australian Governments declared the great central reserves, including the area that is now the Park, as sanctuaries for a nomadic people who had virtually no contact with white people. Despite this initiative, small parties of prospectors continued to visit the area and from 1936 were joined by the first tourists. A number of the oldest people now living at Uluru can recall meetings and incidents associated with white visitors during this period. Some of that contact was violent and engendered a fear of white authority.
From the 1940s the two main reasons for permanent and substantial European settlement in the region were Aboriginal welfare policy and the promotion of tourism at Uluru. These two endeavours, sometimes in harmony, sometimes in conflict, have determined the relationships between Europeans and Anangu.
In 1948 the first vehicular track to Uluru was constructed, responding to increasing tourism interest in the region. Tour bus services began in the early 1950s and later an airstrip, several motels and a camping ground were built at the base of the Rock. In 1958, in response to pressures to support tourism enterprises, the area that is now the Park was excised from the Petermann Aboriginal Reserve to be managed by the Northern Territory Reserves Board as the Ayers Rock - Mt Olga National Park. The first ranger was the legendary central Australian figure, Bill Harney.
Post-war assimilation policies assumed that Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people had begun a rapid and irreversible transition into mainstream Australian society and would give up their nomadic lifestyle, moving to specific Aboriginal settlements developed by welfare authorities for this purpose. Further, with increasing tourism development in the area from the late 1950s, Anangu were discouraged from visiting the Park. However, Anangu continued to travel widely over their homelands, pursuing ceremonial life, visiting kin and hunting and collecting food. The semi-permanent water available at Uluru made it a particularly important stopping point on the western route of these journeys.
By the early 1970s Anangu found their traditional country unprecedentedly accessible with roads, motor cars, radio communications and an extended network of settlements. At a time of major change in Government policies, new approaches to welfare policies promoting economic self-sufficiency for Aboriginal people began to conflict with the then prevailing Park management policies. The establishment in 1972 of the Ininti Store as an Aboriginal enterprise on a lease within the Park offering supplies and services to tourists, became the nucleus of a permanent Anangu community at the Rock.
The ad hoc development of tourism infrastructure adjacent to the base of Uluru that began in the 1950s soon produced adverse environmental impacts. It was decided in the early 1970s to remove all accommodation-related tourist facilities and re-establish them outside the Park. In 1975 a reservation of 104 square kilometres of land beyond the park’s northern boundary, 15 kilometres from Uluru, was approved for the development of a tourist facility and an associated airport, to be known as Yulara. The campground within the Park was closed in 1983 and the motels finally closed in late 1984, coinciding with the opening of the Yulara resort.
Confusion about representation of Anangu in decision-making associated with the relocation of facilities to Yulara led to decisions being made which were adverse to Anangu interests. It was not until the formation of the Central Land Council and the Pitjantjatjara Council in the 1970s that Anangu began to influence the ways in which their views were represented to government.
On 24 May 1977 the Park became the first area declared under the Commonwealth National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975, under the name Uluru (Ayers Rock-Mount Olga) National Park. The Park was declared over an area of 132,550 hectares and included the subsoil to a depth of 1,000 metres. The declaration was amended on 21 October 1985 to include an additional area of 16 hectares. The Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission (the successor to the Northern Territory Reserves Board) continued with day-to-day management. During this period Anangu indicated their interest in the Park and its management, including requests for protective fencing of sacred sites and permission for houses to be built for older people to camp at the Rock to teach young people.
In February 1979, a claim was lodged under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 by the Central Land Council (on behalf of the traditional owners) for an area of land that included the Park. The Aboriginal Land Commissioner, Mr Justice Toohey, found there were traditional owners for the Park but that the Park could not be claimed as it had ceased to be unalienated Crown land upon its proclamation in 1977. The claimed land to the north east of the Park is now Aboriginal Land held by the Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust.
That decision, to establish the Park as a Commonwealth Park, heightened tension between the Commonwealth and Northern Territory Governments of the day. Negotiations over a joint management arrangement between the Northern Territory Government and Anangu based on grant of title to the Park were undertaken but agreement on mutually satisfactory arrangements could not be reached. Anangu were also unwilling to accept
Commonwealth Government proposals for establishment of an advisory committee to make recommendations to the Director of National Parks and Wildlife on park management.
In line with commitments made by the newly elected Commonwealth Government in 1983, legislation amending the Na tional Parks and Wildlife Act 1975 and the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) 1976 came into force on 2 September 1985 to put in place joint management of the Park between Anangu and the Commonwealth. These amendments provided for the area of the Park to be granted as inalienable freehold land to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust and to be simultaneously leased back to the Director of National Parks and Wildlife, to be managed under a Board of Management with an Anangu majority. During negotiations of these arrangements, Anangu achieved payment of a share of Park revenue as annual rental for use of their land as a Park.
At a major ceremony at the Park on 26 October 1985, the Governor-General formally granted title to the Park to the Uluru - Katatjuta Aboriginal Land Trust. The inaugural Board of Management was gazetted on 10 December 1985 and held its first meeting on 22 April 1986. In 1993, at the request of Anangu and the Board of Management, the official name of the Park was changed to its present name, Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park.
Because of continuing opposition from the then Northern Territory Government to the new management arrangements for the Park, the situation whereby the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory carried out day to day management on behalf of the Director became untenable. During 1986 the arrangements that had been in place since 1977 were terminated, and staff of the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service have carried out day to day management since that time.
Although Anangu played a strong role in park management since receiving title to the Park in 1985, they remained dissatisfied with their level of participation and influence in the tourist industry. In late 1995 traditional landowners instructed the Central Land Council to pursue, on their behalf, a native title claim over the Yulara town site. A claim was lodged and eventually accepted by the National Native Title Tribunal, without alterations, on 18 November 1997 and is before the Federal Court.
In June 1999, while this Plan of Management was being prepared, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was enacted. The new law will replace the National Parks Act in July 2000 as the legal basis underpinning joint management. A controversial section of the new Act provides for a representative of the Northern Territory Government to sit on the Park Board of Management in consultation with traditional landowners.
1.1.3 Joint management
Joint management is the term used to describe the working partnership between all traditional owners and relevant Aboriginal people and the Director of National Parks and Wildlife as lessee of the Park as framed by the Lease, within its legislative context. Joint management is based on Aboriginal title to the land, which is supported by a legal framework laid out in the National Parks and Wildlife Conser vation Act 1975 and continued by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This arrangement involves the establishment of a Board of Management with an Anangu majority, a Lease between the Director and the Uluru -Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust, and the development of a Plan of Management. The Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park Office for Joint Management facilitates consultation and communication between the joint management partners and provides secretariat support for the Board of Management.
The joint management of Uluru - Kata Tjuta is nationally and internationally recognised. The Park is regularly visited by representatives of protected areas and indigenous people from Australia and from overseas, seeking to learn about joint management.
1.1.4 Park values
A number of values provide guidance for determining how the Park should be used and managed. Park values are discussed in further detail later in the Plan.
Tjukurpa
The Park is Aboriginal land and Tjukurpa is recognised as the fundamental value to guide management. Any use of the Park should be culturally sustainable and should not adversely affect Anangu cultural aspirations.
Cultural and natural values: looking after country
Conserving the natural and cultural values of the Park is essential both to Tjukurpa and for fulfilling Australia’s obligations to protect the World Heritage values of the Park. Anangu knowledge and best-practice park-management approaches will be applied to looking after country properly. Any use of the Park should be ecologically sustainable and should not adversely affect biodiversity conservation.
Joint management values
Joint management of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park demonstrates how Anangu and other Australians can work together, respect each other, and achieve mutual goals. Anangu economic and community development aspirations will be supported by joint management, as will Nguraritja expectations of benefiting from their land being used as a national park.
Educational values: telling the Park’s story
It is important that visitors to Uluru - Kata Tjuta can learn about the Park’s cultural and natural features and, in particular, gain a better understanding of Anangu culture.
1.2 The regional context
It is important that management is sensitive to the Park’s regional context in terms of cultural and economic considerations and conservation.
1.2.1 Cultural considerations
It is an expressed view of Nguraritja that this Plan of Management should acknowledge the links, through Tjukurpa, between the Park and adjoining lands in the region. These links have direct implications for the practice and maintenance of Tjukurpa associated with the Park.
This view from Nguraritja supports new international obligations the Park has in connection with its 1994 cultural listing under the World Heritage Convention. It also takes into account obligations associated with regional ecological management of the Park under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere program.
1.2.2 Economic considerations
The Central Australian community supports a number of tour operators and others who derive a significant proportion of their income from visitors to the Park. Tourism is central to the regional economy, particularly in terms of employment, and it is important that tourism development in the Park is compatible with other plans for regional development. The standard of visitor facilities that Parks Australia develops and maintains in Uluru - Kata Tjuta greatly influences the quality of tourists’ experience of the region.
Uluru - Kata Tjuta is an important place for recreation. Anangu are happy to share parts of their country with visitors. They would like visitors to appreciate and enjoy the Park so they can take positive memories and understanding away, but they also expect visitors to behave appropriately in the Park. It is important that the Park is well managed to provide high-quality recreational experiences for visitors while ensuring that cultural and natural values are respected.
1.2.3 Conservation
Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park is the only Commonwealth park in Central Australia. Other parks in the Central Australian region generally cover hill, mountain range or riverine country and are managed under relevant Northern Territory and state legislation. Uluru - Kata Tjuta is located in the Great Sandy Desert bioregion and is the only protected area in this bioregion in the Northern Territory. It thus has an important place in the national reserve system.
1.3 The planning process
1.3.1 Producing the Plan of Management
In 1996 the Uluru - Kata Tjuta Board of Management and the Director of National Parks and Wildlife announced their intention to develop a new Plan of Management for Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park. The Plan of Management that was current at the time was to cease to have effect on 31 December 1997. Preparation of the new Plan has taken longer than anticipated and the Park continues to be managed in accordance with the previous Plan.
Parks Australia engaged a consultant to prepare issues papers, coordinate consultation and the involvement of interested parties, and start developing the Plan. Another consultant was engaged to prepare a comprehensive cultural and social impact assessment to contribute to the Plan.
Public notices were issued in November 1996, announcing that the Plan was to be prepared and inviting interested parties to make representations. Forty-five representations were received as a result. They have been taken into account in the development of this document.
The Central Land Council’s Land Assessment Unit and the Office for Joint Management introduced the model for participatory planning that became central to the method of cooperatively working with Nguraritja in the development of the Plan (Central Land Council 1997a, 1997b). The framework and method for the consultation phase were approved by the Board of Management at its meetings in March and May 1997.
During 1998, staff of Parks Australia and the Office for Joint Management, with the assistance of the Tourism Consultative Committee, considered important visitor-related matters affecting the Park. Their subsequent recommendations formed the basis for Chapter 5 of this Plan.
On 3 March 1999, the Director released the draft Plan and published a notice inviting interested persons to make representations on the Plan by 26 May 1999. Twenty-five representations were received. The Board and Director appointed a Steering Committee to analyse and discuss the representations and refer them to meetings of the Board in August and December 1999, and February 2000. The draft Plan was amended following these deliberations, and this final Plan referred to the Minister for Environment and Heritage in March 2000, for consideration and presentation to Parliament.
The National Parks and Wildlife Conser vation Act 1975 provides that, in preparing the Plan of Management, regard shall be had to the following:
• the interests of the traditional owners, and other Aboriginal people to land within the Park;
• preservation of the Park in its natural condition and protection of its special features, including objects and sites of biological, historical, palaeontological, archaeological, geological and geographical interest;
• protection, conservation and management of wildlife within the Park;
• encouragement and regulation of appropriate use, appreciation and enjoyment of the Park by the public;
• protection of the Park against damage.
The Plan is also essential for implementing Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention to protect, conserve and present the attributes of the Park that are of World Heritage significance.
During the preparation of the Plan the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which replaces the National Parks and Wildlife Conser vation Act 1975, was enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament and will commence no later than 16 July 2000. The new Act has some changes to the matters which the Board of Management and Director must have regard to in preparing the Plan. The changes have been taken into account in the preparation of the Plan.
1.3.2 Commencement and termination
This Fourth Plan of Management commences in accordance with section 12(3) of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 (or as provided in section 371 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999). The Plan will cease to have effect on either the day specified by the Minister in a notice published in the Commonwealth Gazette pursuant to section 12(6) of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 (intended to be seven years from its commencement) or automatically after seven years in accordance with s.373 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.