Tourism money to help Mutitjulu community

Indigenous Australians living in central Australia have found an innovative way to use their share of the tourist dollar, paid as royalties from visits to Uluru, Gary Cox reports.

Uluru

Aboriginals living in central Australia have found an innovative way to use their share of the tourist dollar, paid as royalties from visits to Uluru.

The 300-strong Anangu people living in Mutitjulu are used to the heat but for years they have dreamed about having a pool, somewhere for their children to play.

Rent and gate money from admission to Uluru Katajuka National Park is worth about $4.5 million a year.

The traditional owners get about a quarter of that and they are using it to address urgent community needs.

After five years of saving rent and gate money from Uluru-related tourism, they reached the $2 million needed to build their own recreation hall, basketball court and swimming pool.

These projects are giving Indigenous people the first real opportunity to take control and improve their living standards, and they're getting results.