Media and the Murujuga
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
“As the United Kingdom celebrates Australian Indigenous heritage at the British Museum and as Sotheby’s London Indigenous Australian Art auction achieves record prices, back in Australia the Western Australian Government silently moves to deregister Aboriginal sacred sites”.
This extraordinarily significant site, the Murujuga, gives us vital insights into the pre-history of man, continues to be under significant pressure from even more commercial development in the form of industrial infrastructure.
Above: At the Western Australian Parliament (2007)
The Burrup Peninsula, or in local language Murujuga, contains an extraordinary collection of ancient rock engravings created by many hundreds of generations of Aboriginal people over a period of about 30,000 years or more. The art includes the earliest known depictions of the human face and the images of extinct animals. There are more than one million engravings.
Above: At the Western Australian Parliament (2007)
The Burrup Peninsula, or in local language Murujuga, contains an extraordinary collection of ancient rock engravings created by many hundreds of generations of Aboriginal people over a period of about 30,000 years or more. The art includes the earliest known depictions of the human face and the images of extinct animals. There are more than one million engravings.
Murujuga
We look back to see who said what and when.
The area of Murujuga rock art, which during the last ice age was some 150 kilometres from the ancient coastline, became a series of rocky islands as the northern ice caps retreated and sea levels rose.
When people first started the engravings, animal engravings depicted species of the inland, as the ice age waned and Murujuga became a coastal land, the images of fauna were of fish, turtles, crabs and other sea creatures. The images of human ceremony continued throughout all this time.
The Murujuga continues to be under significant pressure from even more commercial development in the form of industrial infrastructure – factories and processing plants, infrastructure for extraction industries whose source of supply is distant from Murujuga. What is remarkable is that the rock art precinct on Murujuga contains some of the hardest rock on earth and is surrounded by degraded pastoral land which is some of the flattest on earth, the later perfect for industrial development and infrastructure.
It costs much more to build on Murujuga as massive amounts of rock have to be moved to clear the sites for construction. This rock of course is some of the most precious in the world. Development brings workers from elsewhere and vandalism of the rock art sites has also become a very significant problem for Aboriginal people and people concerned with the protection of the place.
"The government is very much aware of the great artistic and anthropological value of Depuch Island andI am pleased to be able to point out that it is already under protection as a native reserve controlled by the Native Welfare Department of which I am Minister". E H M Lewis, Minister for education and native welfare (Western Australia), December 1964
"The first ever Aboriginal carving to be exported from Australia left Dampier aboard the salt ship the Regent Azalea, for Tokyo on January 19, 1973. On its arrival in Tokyo, the Chairman for Dampier Salt, Mr Christie, will present the carving to the Tokyo Museum on behalf of the Western Australian Museum". Hamersley News 25/1/1973
"Dampier salt leases: The surveys were in connection to the gazetting of sites under the Aboriginal Heritage act of 1972. The museum team has been in the area for a month and has located and detailed as many sites as time had permitted. During their survey they also made a dozen latex casts of deeply gouged engravings. These loose casts will be taken to Perth. A mould will be produced from the casts and a reproduction from the original will be made in fibreglass". Hamersley News 26/7/1973
"The fact that the northern portion of the Burrup Peninsula has high conservation value, is listed on the National Estate and protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act has been overlooked. The conservation and heritage value of the Burrup Peninsular is so significant that the entire area should not be seen as available for future industrial development. A reasonable balance can be achieved and in this regard, the Authority believes there remains ample scope for future industrial use of the southern, less sensitive parts of the Burrup Peninsula". Barry Carbon, September 1994
“The Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people are deeply concerned about the effects of the proposed development on the Burrup Peninsula. As the traditional owners, we have a spiritual connection given to us by the Mingkala and a responsibility handed down to us by our ancestors to ensure the cultural heritage values of the Burrup are protected for future generations”. Pilbara Native Title Service, June 2002
“The Burrup Peninsula is a unique and special place. Most notably, it just happens to be the site of the world’s largest concentration of ancient rock art. As the Minister for Resources Development in the Court Government I had effective responsibility for the Burrup Peninsula over an eight year period. I remain to this day proud of what happened in that portfolio during that time, but I conceded that although I was aware of the presence of rock art, I did not grasp its significance. I believe I do now. I do not pretend in any sense to be an expert on rock art, but I believe it is something of immense importance to this state. It is an area that needs to be protected, preserved and enjoyed by current and future generations.
The rock art is regarded by archaeologists and anthropologists as being of outstanding importance for what it depicts. There is a greater variety of figures in this region than anywhere else in Australia and the art is considered to be more complex and animated than any other engravings in the country. This extraordinarily significant site gives us vital insights into the pre-history of man.
I have no doubt that the Burrup Peninsula will ultimately receive World Heritage listing however there is still a lot of work to be done of a scientific nature, in terms of cataloguing and recording. I would hope the site could be made accessible to far more people in the future - properly managed with tour guides and proper interpretation.
Equally there will be other areas, probably the vast majority that will be totally preserved and totally protected so we would never lose into history, what is there today.
The Liberal-National Government is committed to protecting these historical heritage sites, which offer a fascinating insight into Australia's indigenous past”. Colin Barnett, Living Black, SBS October 2010
The now former Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, was indeed concerned about the rock art on Murujuga, that was in part before he became Premier in 2008. He expressed his concerns directly to us at that time when I was the master of ceremonies at an Indigenous Rock Art event at the Western Australian Parliament.
In an ABC Radio National programme, Phillip Adams and London based gallery owner Rebecca Hossack (29 April 2013) discuss the destruction of Murujuga rock art sites. Rebecca meets an electrician who had worked for Woodside (the LNG company claims that they do not destroy rock art) who claims that he had personally seen 10,000 engraved pieces of ancient rock art crushed for road construction. Among the devastation one of the oldest depictions of the human face in the world.
I went through the exact same process as Rebecca, that is initial disbelieve, this just could not be possible, All those years ago, I asked myself was it just one image that had been destroyed, thenI discovered what was happening to Murujuga rock art?
Unpleasant discoveries
Looking back ten years or so and a long time before the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelter, I first found out about this during a discussion with a friend who is also a member of the Western Australian Parliament, that some 1300 (slightly less) Indigenous sites in Western Australia have either been blocked from or removed from Western Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Register. These are effectively sacred sites and one of the sites deregistered was indeed Murujuga.
Murujuga as an entity was placed on the register a few years ago at the request of the traditional owners as a way of identifying that it was a contiguous site and made up for the deficiencies of what was on the register for that area. There are a number of individual sites registered on the Burrup (Murujuga) and these have occurred where development took place and in most cases the rock art has been destroyed. Many other academic surveys have been carried out but because they are not associated with industrial development, they await assessment and do not appear on the register. A single site listing resolved this problem.
“I have noticed that when I have been to discussions on the fate of Western Australia’s rock art the game is to say that because Indigenous people were removed from some of the locations where the scared sites are situated or indeed massacred there, as was the case on Murujuga (the Flying Foam Massacre) that these sites no longer have any significance or relevance. This is an old trick that I have heard over and over again from various individuals, sometimes attending these events (clearly but not stated representing the resources industry in some way)”. Peter Hylands
This same trick was tried by the Western Australian Government which said that sacred sites will not be recognised without proof of regular religious activity at the site. This is of course nonsense and the High Court in Western Australia has recently found that the Western Australian Government is now contravening its own laws.
It is worth saying that heritage listing in Western Australia has never excluded development and the track record shows that most of the applications for development on heritage sites have been approved and where there have been objections these have been overruled – so very little has remained protected.
In the last couple of decades we entered a phase, in terms of trying to protect ancient rock art sites, that is far worse than before. The Western Australian Government planned to introduce a system where a single public servant will be responsible for deciding what is sacred and what is not.
The purpose of these secretive changes (and without consultation with Indigenous people) have been to fast track the possibility for the destruction of sites without allowing any opportunity for objections. It is likely that these changes were enacted to try to circumvent heritage laws in relation to the James Price Point LNG development in the Kimberley.
“When the Australian Heritage Council included Murujuga on the National Heritage List they described the place as a masterpiece of human creative genius. Reiterating this opinion a number of years later. For many it is intolerable that such a culturally rich place should be at risk by industry as well as associated footprint impacts, population pressures and chemical emissions. Over the decades there have been many people of sundry nationalities devoting time and effort into raising public awareness of the cultural significance of the Murujuga. Why then is it that individuals in particular positions within industry and government employ can have so much influence? What system of society negates those voices calling for reason and protection?” Ken Mulvaney
Transparency and high standards of governance are critically important in these circumstances. A ruling at the time saw businesses that had destroyed ancient rock art have been absolved of responsibility for doing so.
When the often needless destruction of Australia’s cultural heritage is placed alongside the Western Australian Government’s plans (some 15 years ago) to close large numbers of remote Indigenous communities, effectively removing people from their homelands, and Australia’s Federal Governments plans for developing the north of Australia (in their minds that means a return to vast scale land clearing), all this paints a very bleak picture for the future of Australia’s heritage, both culture and biodiverse. Australia is already in the top group of land clearing and species endangering countries on earth and has shown complete disinterest in applying 50,000 years or more of Aboriginal knowledge to the way the precious land is cared for and sustained.
The short term thinking that allows Australia’s politicians and their lobbyists to facilitate the wide scale destruction of Australia’s cultural heritage and its biodiversity will limit the diversity of economy and employment for future generations.
Once Australia is erased it can never be put back. It will be lost forever. To us this is an enormous sadness.
When I spoke to Wong-goo-tt-oo elder and law man Wilfred Hicks about the Murujuga situation there was great sadness in his voice too and we should all think about the cultural grief and suffering created by the destruction of culture and heritage in Australia.
It is a crime against humanity.
Looking back
In July 2007, and after a significant period of prevarication the Commonwealth Government of Australia included the Murujuga or Burrup Peninsula and the surrounding islands of the Dampier Archipelago on Australia’s National Heritage List so that theoretically at least the Murujuga’s National Heritage Values could be protected under the Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
"One thousand generations to make it, just one generation to break it".
In January 2013 the Western Australian Government announced the creation of a 5,000 hectare Murujuga National Park. The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation was to manage the park in partnership with the Western Australian Government Department of Environment and Conservation. These changes intended to allow the region’s Aboriginal people to protect the world’s largest collection of rock art from vandalism, which had become common place.
Western Australian MP Robin Chapple had this to say:
“It is of concern however that the area being set aside (for the national park) is only a small portion of the Burrup Peninsula, leaving some 6,400 hectares unprotected and available for industrial development”.
Peter Hylands made these points at the time:
“There is still no sign of a world heritage listing which would establish much greater scrutiny of the internationally significant cultural site. We have a saying that nothing in Australia is worth saving, the Murujuga and the Great Barrier Reef are just two extremes of this idea. There should be no excuses for what has occurred on the Murujuga or how its Indigenous people and their heritage has been treated. This remains profoundly poor policy and is the Western world’s worst desecration of ancient cultural heritage. A desecration that has been facilitated by various Governments in Australia (and pointlessly so) with the participation of international investments and executives who would never be allowed to behave in such a manner in their own backyards”.
A very long time coming or not coming
“We regretfully report that the Western Australian and Federal governments appear determined to approve new industrial developments and the continuation of the long-term operations of existing industries on Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula). These ongoing approvals are highly controversial because of their long-term impacts on global warming. They will also be extremely detrimental for the future of the petroglyphs on Murujuga”. University of Western Australia 2022
On 10 February 2023 the ABC reported that:
“The Federal Government has nominated the culturally rich Burrup peninsula and surroundings areas, home to the world's largest collection of rock art, for United Nations' World Heritage listing”.
Describing the key points of the listing nomination:
The Federal Government has nominated Murujuga National Parkfor World Heritage listing
If accepted by UNESCO, Murujuga would become the second sitein Australia listed for World Heritage for Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Traditional custodian Raelene Cooper says it's been a ‘longtime coming’.
"Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek made the announcement today from the peninsula, called Murujuga in local language, and said she was delighted to formally nominate the site for global recognition based on its Aboriginal cultural heritage".
Since the Federal Government's announcement six months ago there appears to have been been very little progress. When we have asked for an update of what is going on we get the usual non response.
As the delays continue year after year, more and more of the rock art complex is damaged while those responsible pretend that nothing bad is happening.
Murujuga
We look back to see who said what and when.
The area of Murujuga rock art, which during the last ice age was some 150 kilometres from the ancient coastline, became a series of rocky islands as the northern ice caps retreated and sea levels rose.
When people first started the engravings, animal engravings depicted species of the inland, as the ice age waned and Murujuga became a coastal land, the images of fauna were of fish, turtles, crabs and other sea creatures. The images of human ceremony continued throughout all this time.
The Murujuga continues to be under significant pressure from even more commercial development in the form of industrial infrastructure – factories and processing plants, infrastructure for extraction industries whose source of supply is distant from Murujuga. What is remarkable is that the rock art precinct on Murujuga contains some of the hardest rock on earth and is surrounded by degraded pastoral land which is some of the flattest on earth, the later perfect for industrial development and infrastructure.
It costs much more to build on Murujuga as massive amounts of rock have to be moved to clear the sites for construction. This rock of course is some of the most precious in the world. Development brings workers from elsewhere and vandalism of the rock art sites has also become a very significant problem for Aboriginal people and people concerned with the protection of the place.
"The government is very much aware of the great artistic and anthropological value of Depuch Island andI am pleased to be able to point out that it is already under protection as a native reserve controlled by the Native Welfare Department of which I am Minister". E H M Lewis, Minister for education and native welfare (Western Australia), December 1964
"The first ever Aboriginal carving to be exported from Australia left Dampier aboard the salt ship the Regent Azalea, for Tokyo on January 19, 1973. On its arrival in Tokyo, the Chairman for Dampier Salt, Mr Christie, will present the carving to the Tokyo Museum on behalf of the Western Australian Museum". Hamersley News 25/1/1973
"Dampier salt leases: The surveys were in connection to the gazetting of sites under the Aboriginal Heritage act of 1972. The museum team has been in the area for a month and has located and detailed as many sites as time had permitted. During their survey they also made a dozen latex casts of deeply gouged engravings. These loose casts will be taken to Perth. A mould will be produced from the casts and a reproduction from the original will be made in fibreglass". Hamersley News 26/7/1973
"The fact that the northern portion of the Burrup Peninsula has high conservation value, is listed on the National Estate and protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act has been overlooked. The conservation and heritage value of the Burrup Peninsular is so significant that the entire area should not be seen as available for future industrial development. A reasonable balance can be achieved and in this regard, the Authority believes there remains ample scope for future industrial use of the southern, less sensitive parts of the Burrup Peninsula". Barry Carbon, September 1994
“The Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people are deeply concerned about the effects of the proposed development on the Burrup Peninsula. As the traditional owners, we have a spiritual connection given to us by the Mingkala and a responsibility handed down to us by our ancestors to ensure the cultural heritage values of the Burrup are protected for future generations”. Pilbara Native Title Service, June 2002
“The Burrup Peninsula is a unique and special place. Most notably, it just happens to be the site of the world’s largest concentration of ancient rock art. As the Minister for Resources Development in the Court Government I had effective responsibility for the Burrup Peninsula over an eight year period. I remain to this day proud of what happened in that portfolio during that time, but I conceded that although I was aware of the presence of rock art, I did not grasp its significance. I believe I do now. I do not pretend in any sense to be an expert on rock art, but I believe it is something of immense importance to this state. It is an area that needs to be protected, preserved and enjoyed by current and future generations.
The rock art is regarded by archaeologists and anthropologists as being of outstanding importance for what it depicts. There is a greater variety of figures in this region than anywhere else in Australia and the art is considered to be more complex and animated than any other engravings in the country. This extraordinarily significant site gives us vital insights into the pre-history of man.
I have no doubt that the Burrup Peninsula will ultimately receive World Heritage listing however there is still a lot of work to be done of a scientific nature, in terms of cataloguing and recording. I would hope the site could be made accessible to far more people in the future - properly managed with tour guides and proper interpretation.
Equally there will be other areas, probably the vast majority that will be totally preserved and totally protected so we would never lose into history, what is there today.
The Liberal-National Government is committed to protecting these historical heritage sites, which offer a fascinating insight into Australia's indigenous past”. Colin Barnett, Living Black, SBS October 2010
The now former Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, was indeed concerned about the rock art on Murujuga, that was in part before he became Premier in 2008. He expressed his concerns directly to us at that time when I was the master of ceremonies at an Indigenous Rock Art event at the Western Australian Parliament.
In an ABC Radio National programme, Phillip Adams and London based gallery owner Rebecca Hossack (29 April 2013) discuss the destruction of Murujuga rock art sites. Rebecca meets an electrician who had worked for Woodside (the LNG company claims that they do not destroy rock art) who claims that he had personally seen 10,000 engraved pieces of ancient rock art crushed for road construction. Among the devastation one of the oldest depictions of the human face in the world.
I went through the exact same process as Rebecca, that is initial disbelieve, this just could not be possible, All those years ago, I asked myself was it just one image that had been destroyed, thenI discovered what was happening to Murujuga rock art?
Unpleasant discoveries
Looking back ten years or so and a long time before the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelter, I first found out about this during a discussion with a friend who is also a member of the Western Australian Parliament, that some 1300 (slightly less) Indigenous sites in Western Australia have either been blocked from or removed from Western Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Register. These are effectively sacred sites and one of the sites deregistered was indeed Murujuga.
Murujuga as an entity was placed on the register a few years ago at the request of the traditional owners as a way of identifying that it was a contiguous site and made up for the deficiencies of what was on the register for that area. There are a number of individual sites registered on the Burrup (Murujuga) and these have occurred where development took place and in most cases the rock art has been destroyed. Many other academic surveys have been carried out but because they are not associated with industrial development, they await assessment and do not appear on the register. A single site listing resolved this problem.
“I have noticed that when I have been to discussions on the fate of Western Australia’s rock art the game is to say that because Indigenous people were removed from some of the locations where the scared sites are situated or indeed massacred there, as was the case on Murujuga (the Flying Foam Massacre) that these sites no longer have any significance or relevance. This is an old trick that I have heard over and over again from various individuals, sometimes attending these events (clearly but not stated representing the resources industry in some way)”. Peter Hylands
This same trick was tried by the Western Australian Government which said that sacred sites will not be recognised without proof of regular religious activity at the site. This is of course nonsense and the High Court in Western Australia has recently found that the Western Australian Government is now contravening its own laws.
It is worth saying that heritage listing in Western Australia has never excluded development and the track record shows that most of the applications for development on heritage sites have been approved and where there have been objections these have been overruled – so very little has remained protected.
In the last couple of decades we entered a phase, in terms of trying to protect ancient rock art sites, that is far worse than before. The Western Australian Government planned to introduce a system where a single public servant will be responsible for deciding what is sacred and what is not.
The purpose of these secretive changes (and without consultation with Indigenous people) have been to fast track the possibility for the destruction of sites without allowing any opportunity for objections. It is likely that these changes were enacted to try to circumvent heritage laws in relation to the James Price Point LNG development in the Kimberley.
“When the Australian Heritage Council included Murujuga on the National Heritage List they described the place as a masterpiece of human creative genius. Reiterating this opinion a number of years later. For many it is intolerable that such a culturally rich place should be at risk by industry as well as associated footprint impacts, population pressures and chemical emissions. Over the decades there have been many people of sundry nationalities devoting time and effort into raising public awareness of the cultural significance of the Murujuga. Why then is it that individuals in particular positions within industry and government employ can have so much influence? What system of society negates those voices calling for reason and protection?” Ken Mulvaney
Transparency and high standards of governance are critically important in these circumstances. A ruling at the time saw businesses that had destroyed ancient rock art have been absolved of responsibility for doing so.
When the often needless destruction of Australia’s cultural heritage is placed alongside the Western Australian Government’s plans (some 15 years ago) to close large numbers of remote Indigenous communities, effectively removing people from their homelands, and Australia’s Federal Governments plans for developing the north of Australia (in their minds that means a return to vast scale land clearing), all this paints a very bleak picture for the future of Australia’s heritage, both culture and biodiverse. Australia is already in the top group of land clearing and species endangering countries on earth and has shown complete disinterest in applying 50,000 years or more of Aboriginal knowledge to the way the precious land is cared for and sustained.
The short term thinking that allows Australia’s politicians and their lobbyists to facilitate the wide scale destruction of Australia’s cultural heritage and its biodiversity will limit the diversity of economy and employment for future generations.
Once Australia is erased it can never be put back. It will be lost forever. To us this is an enormous sadness.
When I spoke to Wong-goo-tt-oo elder and law man Wilfred Hicks about the Murujuga situation there was great sadness in his voice too and we should all think about the cultural grief and suffering created by the destruction of culture and heritage in Australia.
It is a crime against humanity.
Looking back
In July 2007, and after a significant period of prevarication the Commonwealth Government of Australia included the Murujuga or Burrup Peninsula and the surrounding islands of the Dampier Archipelago on Australia’s National Heritage List so that theoretically at least the Murujuga’s National Heritage Values could be protected under the Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
"One thousand generations to make it, just one generation to break it".
In January 2013 the Western Australian Government announced the creation of a 5,000 hectare Murujuga National Park. The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation was to manage the park in partnership with the Western Australian Government Department of Environment and Conservation. These changes intended to allow the region’s Aboriginal people to protect the world’s largest collection of rock art from vandalism, which had become common place.
Western Australian MP Robin Chapple had this to say:
“It is of concern however that the area being set aside (for the national park) is only a small portion of the Burrup Peninsula, leaving some 6,400 hectares unprotected and available for industrial development”.
Peter Hylands made these points at the time:
“There is still no sign of a world heritage listing which would establish much greater scrutiny of the internationally significant cultural site. We have a saying that nothing in Australia is worth saving, the Murujuga and the Great Barrier Reef are just two extremes of this idea. There should be no excuses for what has occurred on the Murujuga or how its Indigenous people and their heritage has been treated. This remains profoundly poor policy and is the Western world’s worst desecration of ancient cultural heritage. A desecration that has been facilitated by various Governments in Australia (and pointlessly so) with the participation of international investments and executives who would never be allowed to behave in such a manner in their own backyards”.
A very long time coming or not coming
“We regretfully report that the Western Australian and Federal governments appear determined to approve new industrial developments and the continuation of the long-term operations of existing industries on Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula). These ongoing approvals are highly controversial because of their long-term impacts on global warming. They will also be extremely detrimental for the future of the petroglyphs on Murujuga”. University of Western Australia 2022
On 10 February 2023 the ABC reported that:
“The Federal Government has nominated the culturally rich Burrup peninsula and surroundings areas, home to the world's largest collection of rock art, for United Nations' World Heritage listing”.
Describing the key points of the listing nomination:
The Federal Government has nominated Murujuga National Parkfor World Heritage listing
If accepted by UNESCO, Murujuga would become the second sitein Australia listed for World Heritage for Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Traditional custodian Raelene Cooper says it's been a ‘longtime coming’.
"Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek made the announcement today from the peninsula, called Murujuga in local language, and said she was delighted to formally nominate the site for global recognition based on its Aboriginal cultural heritage".
Since the Federal Government's announcement six months ago there appears to have been been very little progress. When we have asked for an update of what is going on we get the usual non response.
As the delays continue year after year, more and more of the rock art complex is damaged while those responsible pretend that nothing bad is happening.
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