The ban of October 2019 that was placed on tourists and travellers who wished to climb the sacred site, Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), returned my memory to the day of more than a decade ago when we drove up from Sydney to peruse real estate at Magenta Shores, which is situated on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
As the agent showed us the through the dwellings that were for sale, and knowing that the estate was once a part of the adjoining national park, I could not help but enquire as to how the developer had managed to build it and its accompanying golf course of eighteen holes, on land that had been set aside for the enjoyment of the general public.
His answer surprised us, for he alleged that some indigenous people had laid claim to having located a secret site within the national park’s boundary, and, as a result, that section of the park, that pertained to this, was entrusted to them.
It wasn’t long after that, he claimed, that a developer(s) arrived to make offers that amounted to many millions of dollars and from that point on the fate of the segregated land was allegedly sealed.
Footnote: This recounting of what was told to us might or might not be factual. My telling of it is in no way intended to malign, disparage or otherwise vilify, any of the parties mentioned therein. However, what is indisputable, is that a large segment of a national park was converted into a resort.