Industry and government must be held to account over damage to Murujuga rock art

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We have just spent several days at Murujuga, guided by traditional custodians around a deeply sacred place that contains the largest, oldest collection of Aboriginal rock art in the world.

Since 2006, our organisation Friends of Australian Rock Art has been campaigning alongside Murujuga’s traditional custodians to protect this priceless cultural treasure, and we have visited many times.

Since our last visit, Murujuga has been designated as Australia’s latest World Heritage site by UNESCO, but industrial expansion has also continued right on top of this extraordinary ancient place, also known as the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara.

With our guides, we spent days exploring the sacred songlines and stories contained in these carvings, up to two million in total, according to archaeological experts who accompanied us.

However, while appreciating the serene beauty of the landscape, it was impossible to avoid the sights and sounds of emissions from the massive gas plants on the site, including Woodside’s North West Shelf.

Last month, the government suddenly released the third annual Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Report. Every year this report has been released later, and with greater secrecy. When you look at what it contains, that’s not surprising.

The WA........

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