In the late 1930s, prospectors thought there might be gold in the area. There was a famous story of a lost gold deposit called Lasseter's Reef. The man who said he had found it had died near the Petermann Ranges in 1931, and it was said to be located somewhere in the area. In 1940, the Petermann Reserve was made smaller, so that people could look for the gold. At the same time, an interest in tourism at Uluṟu began to grow. A track for vehicles to reach Uluṟu was built from Curtin Springs in 1948. Tour groups from Alice Springs began arriving a few years later. At first, the government only allowed a few tour companies to go to the rock, because it was still part of the reserve. But demand for tourist income was growing fast. In 1951, Connellan Airways asked for an airstrip to be built next to Uluṟu, even though planes were already landing there.
In 1958, the government cut the area around Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa from the Aṉangu reserve, creating the Ayers Rock–Mt Olga National Park. It claimed that the rocks were no longer important to the natives. The new park was managed by the Territory government, which leased the land out to tour companies. Connellan built their airstrip close to the northern side of Uluṟu in 1959. Campsites and motels were built in 1967.
The Aṉangu were told not to come into the park, but they did anyway. Uluṟu was an important stopping point on travels because of the water usually located there. At first they were tolerated by the park rangers. But as the number of tourists at Uluṟu rose, there were conflicts between tourists and Aṉangu. The government then tried to move them away from the area by building the Docker River village, to the west, in 1968. Because their homeland and lifestyle had changed, the Aṉangu had to find new ways to make a living. They began selling handicrafts and artworks to tourists. Those still living at Uluṟu even opened a store, called the Ininti Store, which they leased from the government in 1972.
In 1971, Aṉangu groups met with the Office of Aboriginal Affairs, a part of the government that were in charge of looking after aboriginal people. Aṉangu people told the Office that they were worried about the effects mining and tourism were having on their land. They also said that their sacred sites were being desecrated (not being looked after properly). They asked for the government's help in protecting them.
In 1973, people from the government visited to make a report on the park. This report said that Aṉangu should be involved in the park's management. It said they could be hired as rangers, and that their sacred sites should be protected. It also advised that all the tourist facilities be moved out of the park. This was because they were having a bad effect on the environment. In 1975, the area called Yulara, to the north, was set aside for this. The airstrip was removed and rebuilt in Yulara in 1982. The resort at Yulara opened in 1983. After that, the campground and motels inside the park were closed, and everything was removed from the park by the end of 1984.
In 1976, the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed for the Northern Territory. It allowed native people to claim rights to own land if they lived on it before Europeans arrived, but only if the land is not already owned. The Aṉangu asked for ownership of the park's land under this law in 1979. But because it had already been made a national park, the claim was not allowed. Even so, the court decided that the Aṉangu were the "traditional" owners ("nguraṟitja") of the land.
There was then a long legal case over the freehold title (actual ownership) of the lands. The case continued until November 1983, when Prime Minister Bob Hawke acknowledged that the Aṉangu had the rights to Uluṟu. On 26 October 1985, they were given the title deeds for the park as the traditional and legal owners of the land. The Territory government protested this decision. It had made a big and expensive campaign to get support and stop it happening. In exchange for ownership, the Aṉangu had to lease the land back to the federal government so that it could stay as a national park. They started managing the park together in April 1986.
Uluru National Park was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, as a natural property. It had already been made a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1977. This means it was an important natural environment. The name of the park changed to Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa National Park in 1993. The next year, it was added to the list again, this time as a cultural landscape. This means that it is one of the few sites in the world that is chosen for both its natural and cultural importance. The listing recognised "tjukurpa" as being the best tool for looking after the park. In 1995, Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa National Park won the highest UNESCO award for setting new standards for the management of a World Heritage site.
Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa National Park is in the southwestern corner of the Northern Territory, in the centre of Australia. It is southwest of Alice Springs. The park covers of flat, red-sand plains. The huge rock formations of Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa are the only major landmarks.
Uluṟu is an sandstone inselberg, rising above the plains around it. Most of its bulk is below the ground. Kata Tjuṯa, west of Uluṟu, is a group of 36 rock domes (or bornhardts), divided by steep-sided valleys. It covers an area of . The tallest dome, Mount Olga, is above the surrounding plain. It is the highest point in the park, at above sea level.
The only permanent settlement in the park is the Aṉangu village of Muṯitjulu. It is on the eastern side of Uluṟu, and about 350 people live there.
Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa are made of different types of sedimentary rock. Uluṟu is mostly made of arkose, a hard type of sandstone that contains a lot of the mineral feldspar. The sediment originally comes mostly from granite. Kata Tjuṯa is made of conglomerate, which consists of bits of rock that has been cemented together by sand and mud. The sediment in this rock is a mixture of granite, gneiss and basic rocks.
Even though the rock types are different, Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa are thought to be about the same age. They have both been exposed because of folding, faulting and the erosion of surrounding rock.
The park is in a geological area called the Amadeus sedimentary basin. The basin was formed about 900 million years ago. Over hundreds of millions of years, it was covered by layer after layer of sediment, until about 300 million years ago. About 550 million years ago, the mountain ranges to the south and west were pushed up out of the ground in a mountain-building event. These mountains quickly crumbled and huge chunks of sediment were pushed northward by rivers. The rivers flattened out into at least two alluvial fans. It is the remains of these alluvial fans that are seen today as Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa.
By about 500 million years ago, a shallow inland sea formed in the basin. Over many hundreds of years, sand and mud fell to the bottom of the sea, covering the alluvial deposit. This layer cemented everything together, forming the arkose over Uluṟu and the conglomerate over Kata Tjuṯa. The sea dried up between 400 and 300 million years ago. A long period of folding tilted the horizontal rock layers. The layers of Uluṟu arkose were folded to the near vertical position they are in today. The conglomerate of Kata Tjuṯa was tilted about 15 to 20 degrees from the horizontal. This means that Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa are the exposed tips of huge rock slabs that run far below the ground.
A valley was formed between the two rocks about 65 million years ago. Newer layers of sediment were added to the old ones. These were covered by the red sand that can be seen today, which was brought in by wind.