Storm Over Uluru

Published in Gympie Times newspaper, 19 Apr 1986, p. 11.

There could be some ducking and diving for cover by the Federal Government over the contents of a book about Ayers Rock, written by local author Peter B. English.

Storm Over Uluru – The Greatest Hoax Of All” – to be released on Monday, raises questions over the identity of the tribal owners of Ayers Rock and the emergence of the Mutitjulu Community Incorporated which will, in themselves, undoubtedly cause a storm.

English claims the media misled a gullible public into believing the Mutitjulus were the former traditional owners of Uluru.

He says this culminated in Australia’s most famous landmark being granted to a small group of Aborigines whose claim to the former ownership of the region has never been established under The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, 1976.

Throughout “Storm Over Uluru”, English relies heavily on the research carried out by the late Professor T.G.H. Strehlow, former Reader in Australian Linguistics at the University of South Australia.

Strehlow was born near Alice Springs in 1908 and was fluent in various dialects spoken by the Aranda people and was acknowledge, world-wide, as an authority on Central Australian Aborigines.

Strehlow was adamant traditional ownership of Ayers Rock, and its legends, was never invested solely in any one tribal group in the terms that white man understands title to a land holding.

English sets out to show, by introducing the information gathered by Strehlow, and others, that the Jankantjajara were the first tribe encountered at Ayers Rock in a 1894 expedition and their descendants were the only ones who could rightfully claim title to Uluru.

English also details the sequence of events leading up to a claim on the area under Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, 1976, which did not originally include Ayers Rock.

English says the death of an elder called Kunmanara, also known as Paddy Uluru, in aboriginal eyes the unchallenged boss of the entire Ayers Rock region, was a turning point in that land claim

Excerpt from Gympie Times article

Excerpt from Gympie Times article.

Within a few weeks of Paddy Uluru’s death in 1979, an amended claim was received from the Central Land Council described as “The Uluru (Ayers Rock) National Park and Lake Amadeus-Luritja Land Claim”.

Paddy Uluru was reputed to have been the son of Lungkarta Tjukurrpa, the Jankanjatjara tribesman referred to by the Spencer and Gillen Expedition to Ayers Rock in 1894.

English pulls no punches in saying the Federal Government was wrong in handing over Uluru to the Mutitjulu Community.

He says white advisers instigated the name change of the Uluru Community Incorporated to Multitjulu (sic) Community Incorporated in 1981 to enable the Federal Government to put into place legislation leading to the eventual handover of Ayers Rock.

English points out that Professor Strehlow was also equally insistent that ownership of the Ayers Rock traditions was shared by the Jankuntjatjara and three other related groups – the Anderkerinja, the Pintubi and the Pitjantjatjara – in that order.

Strehlow also found aboriginal concepts had no real equivalents in English speech which is best summed up by this quote from the Professor: “A life time of research has convinced me of the supreme importance of the aboriginal languages as the only suitable media for expressing with complete accuracy those many difficult concepts that are peculiar to the indigenous inhabitants of this country and I have deliberately refrained from thrusting myself into regions where I would have to depend on interpreters with a faulty knowledge of English for explaining to me aboriginal concepts which had no real equivalents in English speech.”

Throughout “Storm Over Uluru”, English brings to light numerous points which cannot be dealt with in a short review.

Only a close perusal of “Storm Over Uluru” will convince the reader that many more questions need to be asked of the Federal Government over the ownership of Uluru.

Public opinion is Ayers Rock should belong to all Australians – a read of “Storm Over Uluru”, will only strengthen that resolve.

But even if public opinion changed it seems unlikely ownership could be established, beyond question, with any one tribal group.


Arthur Lionel (Paddy) Ethell.

Arthur Lionel (Paddy) Ethell.

2025 update: Peter B. English was the pen name of former Northern Territory journalist Arthur Lionel Ethell who was known as Paddy Ethell.

He also published  the book “Land Rights – Birthrights” which tackled the question of whether those of mixed Aboriginal heritage could claim to be an Aborigine.

In an 1986 interview, Ethell said he had a long association with Professor Strehlow and sometimes accompanied him on his excursions, many to now-sealed sacred sites.

Both men contended that only “full-blood” Aborigines were “true” Aborigines.

Paddy retired to Tin Can Bay near Gympie, Queensland, where he died on Christmas Day 1993 aged 77.