Australia Claims Industry and Ancient Rock Art Can Coexist Following Heritage Listing of Historic Site

Share this @internewscast.com

Key Details

Murujuga, located on a peninsula in north-western Australia near Karratha, hosts the largest collection of rock art engravings globally.
Recently, Environment Minister Murray Watt provisionally approved an expansion of a nearby gas and oil development.
There are concerns that the project could significantly harm the Aboriginal rock art engravings.

Environment Minister Murray Watt states that the recent World Heritage status of an ancient Indigenous rock art site will not impact the government’s ultimate decision on the expansion of a debated gas project in the region.

Murujuga, positioned on a peninsula in north-western Western Australia near Karratha, holds the world’s largest inventory of rock art engravings, referred to as petroglyphs, with some of the million pieces believed to surpass 50,000 years in age.

The area also accommodates two gas plants, a fertilizer facility, and export terminals for iron ore and salt. In May, Watt gave conditional green light to extend the operations of the oil and gas company Woodside’s North West Shelf project until 2070.

The project, Australia’s largest gas and oil development, includes Woodside’s Karratha Gas Plant, adjacent to Murujuga on the Burrup peninsula.

There are concerns that the project’s continuation and subsequent pollution will cause significant damage to Indigenous rock art in the area.

‘Industry can coexist with rock art’, Watt says

On Monday, when asked if the site’s World Heritage listing could influence the final decision on the Woodside extension, Watt said it wouldn’t.

“No, it won’t apply to any decisions that are currently underway or that have happened previously”, Watt told ABC’s RN Breakfast radio program.

A piece of rock art among other rocks outside

Murujuga contains the world’s largest collection of rock art engravings, known as petroglyphs. Source: Supplied / Save Our Songlines

The environment minister said the decision meant any future development in the precinct would need to comply with World Heritage rules. He also said that it was clear “industry can coexist with rock art”.

“I said that we would be applying strict conditions, and preservation of the rock art was central to my decision [to provisionally approve the North West Shelf extension] when I made that a few weeks ago,” Watt told ABC.

“But I guess this is also a way of keeping future governments and future industry honest, to make sure that it does have this extra layer of protection against any inappropriate development in the future.”

Prior to the listing, Watt visited UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, stating it would secure enhanced legal safeguards for the over one million pieces of rock art.

The site was previously put forward to UNESCO for listing in 2023, with the application referred back in May this year.

In its decision to list Murujuga, UNESCO recommended that both state and federal government address concerns that nearby acid emissions — including from Woodside’s Burrup gas hub — were degrading the art.

But it stopped short of implementing recommendations by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) — an advisory body which offers guidance to UNESCO on heritage sites.

The organization had proposed that the World Heritage designation be postponed until Australia outlines its strategy to remove “detrimental acidic emissions currently impacting the petroglyphs”.

A gas facility is seen in the background, with rocks that have an engraving of a turtle in the foreground.

There are concerns that nearby acid emissions are degrading the rock art at Murujuga. Source: Supplied / Save Our Songlines

The government responded by saying the recommendation was driven by “factual inaccuracies”, and successfully argued concerns would be met and that Murujuga should be heritage-listed immediately.

Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who was at the UNESCO meeting, welcomed the World Heritage listing but criticised the removal of recommended protections, including halting industry expansion.

“Today, Australia rewrote the World Heritage listing in the interests of the gas industry,” she said.

“Global scrutiny will now be applied to what is happening at Murujuga,” Cooper said.

“You cannot have industry and culture coexist. It’s never happened. It never works.”

Shortly after Watt granted provisional approval to the North West Shelf extension, Cooper launched legal action to try and protect the site.

A woman wearing a light brown coat speaking.

Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper said Australia had rewritten the World Heritage listing in the interests of the gas industry. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

The Greens welcomed Murujuga’s World Heritage listing on Friday but warned that the world was watching and urged Watt to reconsider the draft approval.

“UNESCO had warned that Woodside’s gas plant threatened the longevity of the rock art prior to the listing, but Minister Watt successfully lobbied other nations when he should have simply rejected Woodside’s climate bomb extension in the first place,” Greens leader Larissa Waters said in a statement.

The nomination process was driven by the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) on behalf of Traditional Owners the Ngarda-Ngarli.

MAC chair Peter Hicks said on Friday it had been an “Indigenous-led process” in partnership with state and federal governments, thanking them for undertaking their roles “without undermining Indigenous decision-making within the process”.

Could industrial pollution damage rock art?

Last month, a study out of Germany’s Bonn University said the industrial emissions from the facilities cause lower pH and higher acid levels in the local rainwater and on the rock surfaces.

“The rock varnish on petroglyph-bearing rocks from Murujuga is highly likely impacted by local industrial pollution, with weathering rates most likely already accelerated due to the lower pH of the rainwater,” the study said.

— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.