Chambers Pillar


Chambers Pillar is a sandstone formation some south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Formation

by wind and rain has left an isolated pillar of 350-million-year-old sandstone, rising above the surrounding plain. The rock formation and the surrounding area of 340 hectares, or, are officially named the Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve.

History

was the first European to see Chambers Pillar, reaching the site in April 1860, and naming it after James Chambers, one of his South Australian sponsors. The rock formations was once an important landmark for pioneers travelling from Adelaide to Alice Springs prior to the establishment of the railways in the 1920s. Several early explorers including Alfred Giles and John Ross, leaders of the second cross-continental expedition in 1870, have left their mark on the rockface. The initials of each are still visible as J Ross and AC 1870. Subsequently numerous other visitors have illegally added graffiti by carving names in the soft sandstone at the base of the pillar.
The dreamtime story of the local Indigenous Australians that the pillar is the gecko ancestor Itirkawara who was exiled for taking a wife from a forbidden skin group. Itirkwara then escaped into the desert but when he they stop to camp they turned into the two prominent rock formations. Itirkawara forming Chambers Pillar into the Pillar, and the woman turned into Castle Rock located about to the north-east.

Services

Chambers Pillar is reached via the unsealed Old South Road from Alice Springs to Maryvale Station. A 4WD vehicle is required after the Maryvale turnoff to Chambers Pillar. Drivers will encounter deep sand drifts and steep jump ups, as well as rolling sandy hills with limited sight lines and the deeply corrugated surfaces typical of Australian outback roads. Camping is permitted at a campground between Chambers Pillar and Castle Rock with amenities including barbeques, carpark, picnic area and public toilets.