Australia Asserts Harmony Between Industry and Rock Art Following Heritage Recognition of Ancient Site

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Key Points

Murujuga, a peninsula in north-west WA near Karratha, contains the world’s largest collection of rock art engravings.
Environment Minister Murray Watt recently gave provisional approval to an extension of a nearby gas and oil project.
There are concerns the project could seriously degrade the Aboriginal rock art engravings.

Environment Minister Murray Watt says the recent World Heritage listing of an ancient Indigenous rock art site will not influence the government’s final decision about an extension of a contested gas project in the area.

Murujuga, a peninsula in north-west WA near Karratha, contains the world’s largest collection of rock art engravings, known as petroglyphs, with some of its one million pieces estimated to be more than 50,000 years old.

It’s also home to two gas plants, a fertiliser plant and iron ore and salt export facilities. In May, Watt gave conditional approval to an extension of oil and gas production company Woodside’s North West Shelf project to 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.”

Watt visited UNESCO’S headquarters in Paris ahead of the listing, saying it would ensure stronger legal protections for the more than a 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 association had recommended that the World Heritage listing be deferred until Australia detailed how it would eliminate “harmful acidic emissions that currently affect 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.