Hundreds of tourists have gathered today to climb a giant sacred rock for the last time before a ban comes into force.
Crowds have for decades enjoyed clambering up Uluru , formely known as Ayers Rock in Anangu, Australia, as it is believed to have great spiritual and cultural importance.
But - and a new law finally comes into force on Saturday making it illegal.
"This is our home. Please don't climb," reads a sign at the base of the red monolith.
Residents in Anangu also argue it is often unsafe to climb Uluru. Dozens died on the 348-metre rock since the 1950s.
And Professor Marcia Langton, chairwoman of the Australian Indigenous Studies at Melbourne University's faculty of medicine, was scathing in her criticism of those who took their last opportunity to legally mount the rock.
She tweeted a timelapse of the crowds waiting to climb and said: "A curse will fall on all of them. They will remember how they defiled this sacred place until they die & history will record their contempt for Aboriginal culture."
Sonita Vinecombe, a visitor from the Australian city of Adelaide who lined up early in the morning to make the trek, said she had mixed feelings on the issue.
"You want to respect the cultural side of things, but still you want to have it as a challenge to get up the rock."
But senator Pauline Hanson, the leader of right wing Australian political party One Nation, had urged people to climb the rock before the ban.
Ms Hanson herself became stuck while attempting to do so in August.
The BBC has reported only 16% of visitors to Uluru actually climbed it in 2017, when the ban was announced, but that number has surged as the deadline drew nearer.
Uluru is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed monolith.
