""The most wonderful natural feature I have ever seen."" With these words the explorer William Gosse expressed the awe he and many others have felt at the natural phenomenon of Uluru. The first white person to reach the central Australian monolith, he gave it the name ""Ayers Rock."" But who was Henry Ayers, the man whose name is forever associated with Australia's most recognizable natural icon? And why should he still be remembered today?

Although the rock now carries its ancient indigenous name, Uluru, the name of Ayers is still linked with the the Rock's ""discovery"" in 1873....