We have often heard about the Chameleon changing its colour, but any hill doing so seems to be a strange happening. There is a hill in South Australia called Ayers' Rock that changes its colour everyday and in every season. It also known as 'Uluru' in the aboriginal language.
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The hill was first discovered by an English traveller W.G. Gosse in 1873. Those days Henry Ayers was the Prime Minister of South Australia and hence this rock was named after him. It is an oval hill measuring 7 Km. in length and 2.4 Km. in width. Its height is 348m. Ayers' Rock is made of Sandstone which is also called Conglomerate.
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Ordinarily the hill is of red colour. The remarkable changes in its colour occur during Sunrise and Sunset. When the Sun's rays fall on it in the morning, it seems as if the entire hill is on fire and violet and deep red flames come out of it. In the same way, violet shadows appear on this massive red rock when the Sun sets. From the morning till evening, this hill changes colour from Yellow to Orange, then to red and at times to violet or even black. One might even think it a magic hill or there is some supernatural miracel about it. But the reason is that this rock's structure is such that it changes colour according to the change in the angle of the Sun's rays, weather and also because of special structure of the rock's sandstone.
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During the Sunrise and Sunset, the Sun's rays have more of Orange and Red colour, because the other colours are scattered by the dust particles present in the atmosphere.
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Tribal people living in that region believed it to be the abode of God and used to worship it in the caves at its base. The Australian government has set up Mount Olga National Park in an area of 487 Sq. Miles near the hill.
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