The Australian Bite

To climb, or not to climb?

6 August 2009

Listen and download: MP3

Uluru is one of Australia’s most popular and spectacular tourist attractions.  But should people be allowed to climb it?  We’ll hear some arguments for and against on this week’s Australian Bite.  We’ll also drop in on a new restaurant in Melbourne’s fashionable inner city suburb of Fitzroy, where disadvantaged and indigenous young people are being given a leg-up into the hospitality trade.  And finally we’ll meet marathon cyclist Kate Leeming, who’s about to embark on a 20,000 km tour around Africa – all for a good cause.

The debate over Uluru

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is one of Australia’s most well known and most spectacular tourist attractions. Each year, around 350 thousand tourists visit Uluru, and despite both the danger, and signs erected by the traditional owners asking visitors not to climb the rock, around a third of them decide to climb it anyway. However a new report has recommended visitors be banned from climbing Uluru, for a range of environmental, cultural and safety related reasons. So why do the traditional owners – the Anangu people – prefer people not to climb the rock? And why do tourists continue to do it? Nicole Lee went to Uluru to find out.

See Nicole’s original story on the ABC Alice Springs website.

Where is Uluru?

You don’t have to climb Uluru to see some pretty impressive sights – like these rock paintings for example.

 

 Charcoal Lane gives a leg-up to disadvantaged youth

A new restaurant in Melbourne’s hip inner suburb of Fitzroy is using the area’s rich indigenous history to create a brighter future for disadvantaged young people. The restaurant is called Charcoal Lane, and it’s named after a nearby laneway that was once a meeting place for the local aboriginal community. It’s being run by Mission Australia, an organisation used to feeding the homeless, not providing fine dining, and its aim is to give Aboriginal and disadvantaged young people the power to transform their lives through traineeships and apprenticeships. Irene Scott, from the Hack program the ABC’s youth radio network Triple J, drops in to Charcoal Lane to find out more.

You can find out more about the Charcoal Lane restaurant, and even download the menu here

Marathon cyclist’s African challenge

Western Australian woman Kate Leeming is what you might call an extreme cyclist. But more than that, she’s an extreme cyclist with a cause. She’s cycled around Russia, as well as twenty five thousand kilometres around Australia. Now she’s about to set off on a twenty thousand kilometre tour through Africa – beginning in Senegal in the west of the continent, and finishing up in Horn of Africa in the east. Kate says her plan is to learn firsthand about the causes of extreme poverty, and educate and inspire actions to assist in making communities more sustainable and resilient. She talks to Babs McHugh from ABC Rural.

Kate’s website for her Africa trip is called Breaking the Cycle 

Music (not in podcast)

Archie Roach is one of Australia’s finest indigenous singer songwriters. He has five solo albums to his name, the most recent being Journey, released in 2007. His debut album, released 15 years previously, was the very moving and critically acclaimed, Charcoal Lane.

Artist: Archie Roach

Track: Charcoal Lane

Album: Charcoal lane (1992)