Jokerman

Do ozzies use the term 'Uluru' or 'Ayers rock'?

According to the Guardian newspaper one should only ever use the term Uluru.

bigAPE

Uluru is the name given to the Mutitjulu Arkose formation by the Anangu people who originally occupied the land in that area. The English explorer William Gosse named the formation Ayers Rock after "discovering" it in 1873 some 10,000 years after the first humans found it.

In 1985 the Australian Government returned ownership of the area to the modern Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara people and it is now once again known as Uluru.

Hope this helps

Al

kiwinow

I think you'll hear both, but officially it's Uluru.
Same here in NZ. They are gradually renaming all the landmarks that have colonial names with the original Maori ones, so Mt Egmont is now Taranaki etc. Makes life interesting.

bigAPE

but corrects an imbalance

Burbage

So it goes like this:

Tour Operator: So folks, we're off to Uluru tomorrow!
Tourists: Where?
Tour Operator: Ayer's Rock!
Tourist: WooHoo!

Bottom line is, a name is only any good if people know what you're talking about.

SNH

It has officially been called Uluru since the early eighties, and it is incorrect to call it Ayers Rock.

Having gone to school in Australia in the eighties, I was always taught to say Uluru, and I would never use the incorrect term (that is offensive to Aborigines).

I guess it's like with the changing of names of any other place (such as Mumbai or Myanmar). The further away you are, the longer it takes to get people using the new name.

Jokerman

I guess the advertisers still don't do it Have a look at the ad at the bottom of page. It was an ad for a travel company specialising in trips to 'Ayers Rock'.

It's good that it's been renamed imho

Kooky.

I've called it Uluru since I was enlightened by a tour guide in 2002. I would never climb it; I'm not in the slightest religious but I try to respect other people's beliefs (and not just because I'm incredibly unfit and would die on the way up). I found it a totally magical place.

May I take this opportunity to quote one of my favourite lines from Priscilla (went to see the musical on Saturday - much fun):

Bernadette: [to Felicia] That's just what this country needs: a cock in a frock on a rock.

yanH

That is because the Guardian is obsessed with being politically correct.

pompeyblonde

Politically correct? or just polite and respectful?

yanH

Why does this only ever work one way though?

Burbage

There are official names, and there are the names by which people recognise something. I could call the town I live in by a new name and I would have every right to do so, but no one would know what the hell I was going on about.

The people of Napoli don't mind that we call their city Naples. Naples is the traditional English term and there's no reason to stop using it just because it isn't official.

pompeyblonde

Why does this only ever work one way though?

How do you mean? I guess the romans invaded UK way back and renamed a few things!

yanH

I was talking about political correctness. Why are minority cultures etc put up on a pedestal with no criticism allowed but our culture is fair game for all?

pompeyblonde

Errr.... because the majority are all? who do you describe as "we" ?