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All about Ayers
There is at least one hill in the world that changes its colour every day and in every season. It is the Ayers rock, the largest solitary stone of the world. It is 440 km south west of Alice Springs in Australia.
The rock is 338 metres high and 10 km wide at the base. It is oval shaped and measures about seven kms in length and 2.4 kms in width.
The hill is made up of sandstone, which is also called conglomerate (rock made up of small stones).
The caves at the bottom contain paintings and carvings made by the primitive man.
This hill was discovered by an English traveller, W. G. Gosse in 1873. At that time Henry Ayers was the Prime Minister of South Australia, hence this was named after him.
The structure of the rock is such that it changes its colour according to the change in weather and the angle of the sun. Normally, the hill is red in colour. The spectacular changes occur during sunrise and sunset when the sunrays fall on it in the morning, it seems as if the entire hill is on fire and violet and deep red flames leap out of it. Violet shadow appears during sunset. From morning till evening it changes its colour from yellow to orange, red to violet and sometimes to black.
Rashmi M R, X
Bangalore: The Oxford English School
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