YOUR SAY

RISKY BUSINESS

We’ve been tidying up the family archives and came across some old photos that might be of interest. They were taken before I discovered the photographer’s mantra of “get closer, get closer still”. Nevertheless, they are a record of a remarkable job: how they put the handrail on Ayers Rock (Uluru). The dust has settled and the handrail has now gone (AG 151), but I have photos of its beginnings.

In September 1964, my parents and I arrived at an eerily deserted camping ground with only one other party present. The next morning, I set out early to beat the wind and reach the summit of Uluru, but it had picked up considerably, so I had to clamber about on all fours to avoid being