History of Uluru

Uluru is a massive sandstone rock in central Australia that is sacred to the Aborigines of the area, who are known as the Anangu (Pitjantjatjara people).

Uluru is the traditional name for the rock, Ayers Rock is the name given by European explorers in 1873 after the South Australian Premier at the time, Sir Henry Ayres. Uluru is considered one of the great wonders of the world and one of Australia's most recognizable natural icon.

A Video about the history of Uluru

Uluru is located in the Northern Territory, central Australia. It is situated in the Kata-Tjuta National Park, which is about 340km away from Alice Springs.

Uluru stands 346 metres high and has a circumference of 8 kilometres. 

It is a bare rock with no vegetation, trees or plants so this makes it very mysterious and beautiful.
Uluru is often called a monolith, but is in fact an inselberg, which is a hard rock remainder of a mountain after the softer part has eroded away. An inselberg is an isolated hill or small mountain that stands out from a surrounding flat plain. The word means 'island mountain'.
The temperature in Uluru can reach up to 46 degrees celsius.

Sun at Uluru

 Anangu cave paintings at Uluru

Aerial view of Uluru

The base of the rock however is nourished by rain runoff from Uluru and is a fertile oasis of water pools, rich greenery and a variety of wildlife.

Ayers Rock contains a variety of interesting cracks, canyons, caves and natural formations, all of which the Anangu attribute to the activities of ancestral beings at the creation time. The shallow caves at the base of the rock contain ancient carvings and paintings. These paintings tell the story of Dreamtime, the Aboriginal story of how the world was formed.
Preserving and protecting these paintings are vital to respecting Aboriginal's culture.

Cave painting at Uluru

QUIZ

http://auback.50webs.com/Web%20Pages/Info/uluru_quiz.htm


Click on the link above to do a quiz about Uluru from what you have learnt so far. Good luck!




Hi Grade 4,

We hope you are enjoying learning about Uluru! If you have any problems with the homework below or have any questions, comment on this post and Mrs Zomer or Miss Ingram will reply back and help you.

HOMEWORK: Create your own Aboriginal dot painting about something that is special or meaningful to you. This might be a picture of your family, your pets, your favourite activity, favourite animal or landscape. You may like to include pieces of nature, such as bark from trees or fallen leaves. You can use paint, finger-paint, textas and pencils. 
What do you think about respecting and preserving Aboriginal' paintings?