Murujuga on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula — home to the world’s largest rock art site, with more than one million ancient petroglyphs — has been officially recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The announcement was made at the 47th World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, confirming Murujuga as Australia’s latest Cultural World Heritage Site. The listing recognises the area’s deep First Nations heritage and its remarkable concentration of Aboriginal rock art.
What Murujuga’s listing means for its protection
The committee approved the listing with an amendment urging the Australian Government to continue research and monitoring of industrial impacts on the site. Concerns have been raised over air pollution from nearby gas facilities, particularly Woodside’s North West Shelf LNG plant, which scientists say is accelerating the weathering and degradation of the petroglyphs.
Environment Minister, Murray Watt, attended the WHC meeting in Paris, lobbying for the listing to be based on the Western Australian government’s executive summary of research into industrial impacts on Murujuga. WHC decision makers were also considering findings from a report written by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) which found that industrial activity of the gas industry on the Burrup peninsula is weathering and degrading the Murujuga rock art, which was also confirmed by a research paper published in July by Bonn University.
Emu petroglyph at Murujuga
Fish petroglyph
In May, Minister Watt issued a conditional approval to Woodside to extend its Burrup operations until 2070. The conditions attached to that approval are yet to be made public.
Professor Ben Smith, a rock art expert from the University of Western Australia, welcomed the UNESCO listing but called attention to the handling of scientific data.
“While I celebrate Murujuga receiving the well-deserved status of being listed as a World Heritage Site, the nature in which the Australian Government handled the scientific findings on industrial impacts on Murujuga during this process reveals the extent to which they will go to play down the impacts of our gas industry,” he said.
“One only hopes that Murujuga’s listing as a World Heritage Site spurs the government to no longer shirk its responsibility to conserve and protect this globally significant rock art site.”
Turtle petroglyph and North West Shelf project
Murujuga custodian and founder of Save our Songlines, Raelene Cooper, who travelled to Paris for the decision, shared a similar mix of celebration and concern.
“This is a momentous day for our old people and our future generations, to have Murujuga’s outstanding universal heritage values recognised by the world,” she said.
“Today, Australia rewrote the World Heritage listing in the interests of the gas industry. Even though all of the recommended protections were removed after concerted lobbying from the Australian government, we are still overjoyed to see Murujuga finally World Heritage listed by UNESCO.
“Global scrutiny will now be applied to what is happening at Murujuga. We will continue to fight for protection for this very special place, and the world is now aware of what we are up against.”
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