A decade ago, I joined a huge group of international journalists standing in the red dirt of the , craning our necks, pointing our cameras and sweating in the relentless heat. We were waiting for the then to appear. As the sun began its slow descent towards the horizon, William and Kate finally emerged after their guided walk around the giant rock that is .
The couple were on tour in and with baby Prince George and had come to experience the sandstone landmark for themselves. Posing slightly awkwardly, the couple gave the “Aussie salute”, waving away the flies which refused to leave any of us alone, royal or otherwise. Comparisons were made with Charles and Diana’s similar trip 30 years earlier and their equally awkward photo call.
The royal family has been through a huge amount of change since that trip, but what hasn’t changed is While Uluru remains rock steady, around it there is constant evolution with new creative and this ancient site. So exactly 10 years after it first made an impression on me, I am back, this time with my family. As we flew towards the sunburnt , I shared some facts with the kids about this “rock star”.
It’s about 600 million years old and used to sit on the bottom of an ancient seabed. It’s the world’s largest single rock, taller than the and, like an iceberg, most of it is out of view underground. What must surveyor William Gosse have thought in 1873? He named it after the then chief secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.
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