Aboriginal leader calls for woman to be deported from Australia for stripping on sacred site

Aborigines angered by striptease on sacred site

CANBERRA, Australia — An Aboriginal leader called for a woman to be deported from Australia on Sunday after she was filmed stripping on Uluru, also called Ayers Rock, an international tourist attraction and a sacred site for the local indigenous tribe.

The video appeared on the website of the Sunday Territorian newspaper, which identified the woman as 25-year-old French-born exotic dancer Alizee Sery.

The video shows her climbing the red sandstone monolith in conventional dress and then stripping at the top to a white bikini, white high-heeled boots and a bushman’s hat.

The images have outraged local Aborigines, who regard Uluru as a sacred site and object to tourists climbing it. However, climbing is permitted.

Aborigines also object to photos being taken of the areas of the rock important to their creation stories.

David Ross, director of the Central Land Council which represents the traditional owners of Uluru and the surrounding national park, said the woman was a French tourist and should be deported.

“Too often Uluru is used as a place for individuals to pursue some questionable personal development activities at the expense of Aboriginal law and culture,” Ross said in a statement.

A spokesman for the newspaper did not return a telephone call seeking comment, and Sery could not immediately be contacted.

Immigration Department officials were not able to comment Sunday on the details available.

Sery told the newspaper that she had been traveling around Australia and decided to do a “strip show” on Uluru.

She said she did not intend to offend Aboriginal culture. “I did it as a tribute to the way it used to be, you know, how they were living naked,” it quoted her as saying.

Northern Territory Police were unaware of the incident until the newspaper reported it on Sunday, police spokeswoman Natalie Bell said.

The woman’s behavior could constitute a minor offense of disorderly conduct, but no investigation was under way because no official complaint had been made to police, Bell said.

The newspaper did not say when the video was made.

Online:

www.ntnews.com.au