08 September 2009

Tourists using sacred site as toilet

DARWIN - Tourists are using the top of the sacred site of Uluru as a toilet, according to the head of a Central Australian tour company.

The Northern Territory News reports that Andrew Simpson, general manager of the Aboriginal-owned Anangu Waai tour company, said many tourists took a toilet roll with them when they climbed the rock.

NT News said the claims could be another blow to chances of the rock staying open to climbers.

When people climb to the top of the rock there's no toilet facilities up there.

Simpson added, ''They get out of sight like most German tourists do ... like most tourists do.

''Most of them have a toilet roll tucked away.

''They're shitting on a sacred site. Itââ¬â¢s been going on for years," he said.

Uluru, previously known as Ayer's Rock, is sacred for the Anangu people, to whom the land was handed back in 1985.

Traditional owners have complained rubbish and human waste has been making its way down from the top into a sacred pool.

Simpson's claims are in a submission on the draft Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park management plan, which includes the proposal to ban climbing on the rock.

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