this rock means everything to anangu.also known as ayers rock, a sandstone monolith in the heart of northern territory‘s red centre, dates back more than 500 million years. tourists from all over the world visit the site every year. for decades, there's been a bitter row over the controversial practice of climbing the rock. have you guys heard that the aboriginal people don't want people to climb? yes, i do. and i understand that. but i'm going to do it anyway. yeah. there are signs here at the base of the climb clearly saying, "please don't climb". "it's against traditional law". translated into six languages. but still, every day we've been here there has been a steady stream of climbers. indigenous communities have long campaigned for the behaviour, which they consider deeply offensive, to end. now, the time for talking is over. from november next year, the climb will close. i'm here in the spiritual heart of australia, where i was born, to find out why it's taken so long, and how the anangu people feel about the multi

these creation stories are the anangu's spiritual compass.caves, marks, and rock formations all live and breathe with them. senior traditional owner sammy wilson's family holds the story of kuniya, the python woman at uluru. sammy tells me that she fought liru, the poisonous snake here at uluru, and signs of that ferocious battle are all around this water hole. for 11—year—old tilly, going to uluru and into the caves, where there are rock art tens of thousands of years old, is a deeply spiritual experience. i felt like my nana was right beside me, and my grandpa, my great—great—grandpa. and ifelt sad, because it was a very long time ago, when he passed, when he did that painting. and is that place a very special place for you? yeah, because we're not really allowed to go in the rock, because we'll get sick, and on that rock, when you step on that rock, you'll get sick because you're stepping on your culture and your dreaming. stepping on the dreaming is what hundreds of thousands of tourists around the world have done. including princess dian