Cursed rocks

“Stones taken from Australia’s Ayers Rock have been returned to the desert monolith’s Aboriginal custodians by tourists who believe they are cursed.

Hundreds of visitors who casually pocketed chunks of the sacred landmark and took them home found they brought nothing but bad luck, including illness, marriage break-ups and even death.

National park rangers receive at least one package a day of what have been called “sorry rocks” pilfered from the landmark, now known by its indigenous name of Uluru.

While most of the rocks were small, a German family returned a chunk weighing 9kg and a couple from South Australia posted back a large 32kg slab.