World Heritage Places - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Location

The park covers 1,325 km² of arid ecosystems and is located close to the centre of Australia in the traditional lands of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal people (locally known as Anangu).

Description of place

The huge rock formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are remarkable geological and landform features, set in a contrasting, relatively flat, sand-plain environment. They are a part of an important cultural landscape and have special significance to Anangu.

The features of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the surrounding landscape are physical evidence of the actions, artefacts and bodies of the ancestral heroes (Tjukuritja) who travelled the earth in creation times. These heroic beings, who combined the attributes of humans and animals, journeyed across the landscape creating not only its features, but also Tjukurpa (the law) - the code of behaviour followed by Anangu today. Tjukurpa regulates all aspects of life, from foraging behaviour and management of the landscape to social relationships and personal identity. It is expressed in verbal narratives, through lengthy inma (song cycles and associated ritual), art and the landscape itself. For Anangu the landscape is the narratives, songs and art of Tjukurpa.

Anangu learned how to patch burn the country from Tjukurpa of lungkata, the blue tongued lizard. Now, in conjunction with modern methods, the cool season practice of lighting small fires close together leaves burnt and unburnt areas in a pattern like a mosaic. This traditional knowledge is adopted as a major ecological management tool in the park. Tjukurpa also teaches about the location and care of rock holes and other water sources. Uluru is a huge, rounded, red sandstone monolith 9.4 kilometres in circumference rising from the plain to a height of over 340 metres. Rock art in the caves around its base provides further evidence of the enduring cultural traditions of Anangu.

About 32 kilometres to the west of Uluru lie the 36 steepsided domes of Kata Tjuta. The domes cover an area of 35 square kilometres, with the highest rising to 500 metres above the plain. This area is sacred under Anangu men's law and detailed knowledge is restricted. These huge rock formations, their creek lines, waterholes and the surrounding sand country vegetation is an arid environment of enormous diversity.

The landscape is dominated by spinifex and low shrubs, with large desert oaks dotted on the sand dunes and plains. Sizeable areas of mulga woodland and other low shrubs also occur on dunes and swales. The alluvial flow areas at the base of the major rock formations support large bloodwoods, acacias and native grasses. Water holes and soaks provide restricted habitats for a number of rare and unique plant species. Larger stands of mulga and other acacias dominate the harder, wide, sand plain surrounding Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Anangu's traditional ecological knowledge is critical to the ongoing scientific management of the species found in these habitats. The park is home to more than 150 species of birds and many reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates adapted to arid environments. A number of rare mammals are found here, including the hairyfooted dunnart, the sandhill dunnart and the mulgara. The mala, a significant Tjukurpa species, has recently been re-introduced. Reptile species are well adapted to this arid environment and are found in numbers unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Lizard species include the rare giant desert skink and Australia's largest lizard, the perentie, which can grow to a length of 2.5 metres.

The huge rock formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are remarkable geological and landform features set in a contrasting, relatively flat, sand-plain environment.

Management of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

The inalienable freehold title to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was handed back to the traditional owners in 1985 and is held by the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust. The park is leased back to the Director of National Parks and is jointly managed under the direction of a Board of Management which has an Aboriginal majority representing the traditional owners. Day-to-day management is carried out by Parks Australia, a division of the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

• World Heritage Committee information for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

World Heritage sites are places that are important to and belong to everyone, regardless of where they are located. They are an irreplaceable legacy that the global community wants to protect for the future.

The common feature of all properties inscribed on the World Heritage List is that they meet the requirement of Outstanding Universal Value. Outstanding Universal Value is defined as cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity.

Fact sheet

• Understanding World Heritage: what is Outstanding Universal Value?

A Statement of Outstanding Universal Value is the official statement adopted by the World Heritage Committee identifying the criteria under which the property was inscribed, including the assessments of the conditions of integrity or authenticity, and of the protection and management in force. The primary purpose of a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value is to be the key reference for the future effective protection and management of the property. When the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was listed in 1987 and 1994 a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value was not required.

The Australian Government is working with the Traditional Owners, the Anangu, and technical advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee to develop the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value.

In the meantime examples of World Heritage values that contribute to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value are identified under each criterion below. These examples are illustrative of the World Heritage values of the property, and they do not necessarily constitute a comprehensive list of these values. Until the adoption of a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value the list should be used as a guide on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property.

Criteria

Outstanding examples of significant ongoing geological processes

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park includes the monoliths of Uluru and Kata Tjuta which are exceptional examples of tectonic, geochemical and geomorphic processes. The World Heritage values include:

• Uluru, one of the largest monoliths in the world, which is affected by erosional processes including sheeting of rock parallel to the surface and granular disintegration known as cavernous weathering;
• tectonic, geochemical and geomorphic processes associated with the inselbergs of Uluru and Kata Tjuta which result in the different composition of these two relatively close outcroppings, their different extent of block tilting and types of erosion, the spalling of the arkose sediments of Uluru and massive 'off loading' of conglomerate at Kata Tjuta.

Contain unique, rare and superlative natural phenomena, formations and features and areas of exceptional natural beauty.

The huge monoliths of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, including one of the largest in the world, which are set in a contrasting sand plain environment provide a landscape of exceptional natural beauty and scenic grandeur. The World Heritage values include:

• the remarkable and unique natural geological and landform features formed by the huge monoliths of Uluru and Kata Tjuta set in a contrasting sand plain environment;
• the immense size and structural integrity of Uluru which is emphasised by its sheer, steep sides rising abruptly from the surrounding plain;
• the relative simplicity of the monolith of Uluru and its contrasts with the many domes of Kata Tjuta; and
• the exceptional natural beauty of the view fields in which the contrasts and the scenic grandeur of the monoliths create a landscape of outstanding beauty of symbolic importance to both Anangu and European cultures.

Outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is an outstanding example of the traditional human settlement and land-use known as hunting and gathering. Relatively few contemporary hunting and gathering cultures now exist throughout the world. The World Heritage values include:

• the continuing cultural landscape of the Anangu Tjukurpa (see note below) that constitutes the landscape of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and which:
  • is an outstanding example of a traditional human type of settlement and land-use, namely hunting and gathering, that dominated the entire Australian continent up to modern times;
  • shows the interactions between humans and their environment;
  • is in large part the outcome of millenia of management using traditional Anangu methods governed by the Tjukurpa*;
  • is one of relatively few places in Australia where landscapes are actively managed by Aboriginal communities on a substantial scale using traditional practices and knowledge that include:
    • particular types of social organisation, ceremonies and rituals which form an adaptation to the fragile and unpredictable ecosystems of the arid landscape;
    • detailed systems of ecological knowledge that closely parallel, yet differ from, the Western scientific classification; and
    • management techniques to conserve biodiversity such as the use of fire and the creation and maintenance of water sources such as wells and rockholes.

Directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is directly and tangibly associated with events, living traditions, ideas and beliefs of outstanding universal significance. The World Heritage values include:

• the continuing cultural landscape of Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park which is imbued with the values of creative powers of cultural history through the Tjukurpa and the phenomenon of sacred sites;
• the associated powerful religious, artistic and cultural qualities of this cultural landscape; and
• the network of ancestral tracks established during the Tjukurpa in which Uluru and Kata Tjuta are meeting points.

* Note:
The Tjukurpa ('the Law') is an outstanding example of an Indigenous philosophy. It is founded upon a time when heroic beings, who combined the attributes of humans and animals, camped and travelled across the landscape. As they did, they shaped and created the features of the land. The actions of the heroes established the code of behaviour, followed by Anangu today, which regulate all aspects of life, from foraging behaviour and management of the landscape to social relationships and personal identity. It is expressed in verbal narratives, through lengthy inma (song cycles and associated ritual), through art and through the landscape itself. For Anangu the landscape is the narratives, songs and art of the Tjukurpa.

• Location/Boundary plan (PDF - 227.2 KB)
• Gazettal notice (PDF - 67.56 KB)
• Australian Heritage Database record for this place
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta factsheet (PDF - 855.59 KB)
• Map (PDF - 225.13 KB)
• Protected Planet Database - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park World Heritage Site
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
• World Heritage Committee information for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
• World Conservation Monitoring Centre