Uluru-Kata Tjuta

Declared in 1958 as Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park, it was formally handed back to its traditional Aboriginal owners, the Anangu, in 1985 after a long campaign for land rights, on condition that the Anangu lease the park back to the Australian government to be run jointly for 99 years. Uluru, a sandstone monolith 9.4 km in circumference, whose base extends several kilometres underground, is part of the Anangu Tjukurpa, the belief system of one of the oldest human societies in the world. After decades of tourist ascents, climbing Uluru was banned outright in October 2019, following years of explicit requests from the Anangu, who had always held the practice to be disrespectful of a sacred place. It is one of the few places on the planet with a dual UNESCO listing, natural (1987) and cultural (1994).