AUSTRALIANA

AYERS ROCK

The Aboriginal Word for Ayres Rock is ULURU. Ayers Rock is located in the ULURU - KATA TJUTA NATIONAL PARK which is a World Heritage Area and comes under the jurisdiciton of the Commonwealth of Australia
The Park is Managed by the Australian Nature Conservation Agency and is located 1420km south of Darwin, & 335km south-west of Alice Springs in thesouth west corner of the Northern Territory.
Proclaimed in 1987, the park covers a total area of 132500 Ha and includes the wonderful and spectacular Olgas.

Special Values:

Uluru National Park is also listed (1977) as a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program. Uluru (Ayers Rock-Mount Olga) National Park, covering an area of 132×566 hectares of arid ecosystems, is located close to the centre of Australia The Park is of great national and international significance. The huge monoliths of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) are remarkable geological and landform features set in a contrasting, relatively flat, sand-plain environment. They are also of great cultural significance to the local Aboriginal peoples.

The outstanding natural features of the area were recognised when the Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in December 1987. The management of Uluru National Park is the responsibility of the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service and a Board of Management including representatives of the traditional Aboriginal owners.

Habitats:

CULTURAL FEATURES

For many thousands of years Uluru has been a religious, cultural, territorial and economic focus for the Aboriginal peoples of the western desert.

Uluru is a huge, rounded, red sandstone monolith 9.4 kilometres in circumference and rising to a height of over 340 metres. Rock caves and overhangs around the base of Uluru were used by Aboriginal people for shelter and are decorated with paintings.

About 32 kilometres to the west of Uluru lie the 36 steep-sided domes of Kata Tjuta. The domes cover an area of 3 500 hectares with Mount Olga, the highest feature, rising to a height of 500 metres.

BIOLOGICAL FEATURES

The Park vegetation comprises generally low plant species with a scattering of trees and shrubs. As in most arid areas in Australia, there are few eucalypts and these are generally restricted to habitats where more water is available. Water holes and soaks provide restricted habitats for a number of rare plant species.

Twenty-two species of native mammals, including rodents and bats have been recorded within the Park. Over 150 species of birds, and many reptiles, amphibians and invertibrates adapted to arid environments have also been recorded.

A number of rare mammals are found in the Park. They include the hairy-footed dunnart, the sandhill dunnart and the mulgara.

Reptile species are found in numbers unparalleled anywhere else in the world and are well adapted to the arid environment. A number of lizard species are found in the Park and range from AustraliaØs largest lizard, the perentie, which may grow to a length of 2.5 metres, to a skink which rarely grows beyond 70 millimetres in length.

Several large and small snakes live in the area, including the venomous king brown and western brown snakes. Pythons are rarely found in arid environments, however, two species can be found within the Park.