It is sad that someone has to exert so much energy (3 pages? Woow.) attempting to justify their own sense of superiority.

If you are so hell bound on desecrating sacred sites why don't you go piss up against the Wailing Wall, or scribble graffiti all over the Vatican?

Steeleredux
People hurt themselves on holidays all the time and we feel sorry for them but the majority of society recognise that people are responsible for their own safety. I would suggest the locals do some traveling and see more of the world. It might expand their minds.

Dear MarcH,

What makes you think Mr and Mrs Severin aren't well travelled?

John Perkins tries valiantly to find a path down the middle of the argument that justifies the ban. In my humble opinion he fails. Damage to cultural beliefs does not occur simply by climbing the monolith, as is evidenced by the myriad of sacred places of other cultures and religions frequently visited by intrepid persons. Given the history of the rock and the indigenous people who now claim it as sacred (a newish event) there is no justifiable reason for the ban on climbing. There is one reason that makes sense however. That reason is revenge with malice for real or assumed wrongs by European Australians since colonisation. While rational, this justification is really stupid. It will antagonise many Australians (especially taxpayers) who are continually asked to give more to Aboriginal Australians so they can continue to turn their backs on the real world they exist in called the 21st Century. They also us to fund their own form of a Parliament and continue to pay billions to support unacceptable life styles and self inflicted damage. Give me a break - not smart politics in my opinion.

You sum it up very well Pliny of Perth. If the woke mob had their way you would be charged with religous vilification. The closure is all about hatred/control and nothing about recently made up 'sacred site'. This is clearly inidcated by the large numbers of Indigenous climbers in the past.

Dear Pliny of Perth,

Bollocks old boy.

There has always been areas of Uluru out of bounds to tourists since it became a National Park. If you had ever walked the girth of the thing you would have known that. But you clearly haven't.

I have never heard a Anangu elder talk about the Uluru as sacred in its entirety. However I have heard them show concerns over the health of the people who were climbing it and about shatting tourists polluting by runoff some of the quite beautiful pools at the base. There is no doubt the majesty of the place has impacted their stories just as it has ours, and it holds a special place in their and our culture. But there is a generosity of spirit in their message that you want to ignore. I will concede that some indigenous commentators not from that country appear to have attempted to weave a story for it that doesn't fully reflect that of the Anangu people, but that is politics.

In the end the owners of the land are willing to share it and keep it a special place for all Australians to enjoy and respect, and by all accounts their motives are nothing like what you have ascribed them to be.

Your projection however does belie an underlying feeling of guilt that you should perhaps reflect upon.

And do yourself a favour and walk the base. I never climbed the thing and I am glad of that but I will remember that walk for as long as I live.

Dear runner,

You really are a poisonous little individual aren't you.