Murujuga nominated for World Heritage listing

MILLENIA in the making, nearly 100,000ha of land and sea at rock art-rich Murujuga in WA’s Pilbara has been nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage List.
If the nomination submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is accepted, the highly industrialised Burrup Peninsula in Dampier Archipelago would be the second site in Australia listed just for its Aboriginal cultural importance (Budj Bim in southwestern Victoria was listed in 2019).
Announced by the State and Federal governments, the submission will be assessed by UNESCO and take at least 18 months before a final decision is made to give Murujuga a permanent listing with other Australian World Heritage sites including Shark Bay and Great Barrier Reef.
The original deadline for the nomination was February 1, 2021 but was delayed by the outbreak of COVID-19.
About 100 people including Federal Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek and WA Environment and Climate Action Minister Reece Whitby, Aboriginal elders, local dignitaries and park rangers gathered at Hearsons Cove for the official announcement.
The nomination was prepared by Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation in partnership with the WA Government and support of the Australian Government.
A map of the nominated area was not available and it is unclear whether other nearby significant sites such as Depuch Island and Peawah Hill will be included inside the proposed World Heritage boundary.
Depuch is regarded by Ngarluma, Gariyarra and Yindjibarndi people as a ‘punishment’ island, the oblong-shaped rock believed to have been left over from the creation of Uluru (Ayer’s Rock).
The 1200ha island also was the original site chosen for the Burrup until WA Museum scientists in the 1960s convinced the WA Government to shift it to Dampier where little was known about Murujuga’s rock art.
Ms Plibersek said Murujuga contained an estimated one to two million images, the densest known concentration of hunter-gatherer petroglyphs in the world. Of immense cultural and spiritual significance, the ancient landscape contains evidence of continuous traditional culture and practice over at least 50,000 years.
Ms Plibersek said the proposed World Heritage boundary, “has been comprehensively negotiated”. When asked by StreetWise whether other rock art sites such as Depuch Island would also be protected under the listing, the minister handballed the question to her minders who had no answers despite having been contacted for a comment last week ahead of today’s announcement.
Mr Whitby also was unaware of Depuch’s significance, the McGowan Government having ratified a State Agreement signed by former premier Colin Barnett with NZ company Todd Mining to build a new $6 billion deepwater port at Balla Balla and 162km rail line linked to an inland iron ore mine owned by ASX-listed Flinders Mines.
A Flinders spokesman told StreetWise in September last year, “the Balla Balla project remains very much live” (‘Depuch Island – the future of Uluru’s dark sister’ at https://bit.ly/3RQa65W).
Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation CEO Peter Jeffries told StreetWise Depuch Island was not included in the nomination, but he was hopeful it could be included at a later date.
“There’s an opportunity to consider other places,” he said. “They could be added at some point in time, but it’s a discussion we need to have with Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation. Depuch is a special place.”
According to the Balla Balla Infrastructure Group majority owned by Todd Corporation, all native title and heritage agreements for the project opposite Depuch, “are in place with the relevant traditional owner groups”, including NAC (Ngarluma people); Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (Yindjibarndi people); and Wintawari Aboriginal Corporation (Eastern Guruma people).
There is no mention of the extraordinary petroglyphs at Depuch in the nearly 50 references supporting the World Heritage nomination despite the scientific studies by the WA Museum and overseas work dating back to the early 1930s (‘Uluru sister site overlooked in World Heritage List nomination’ at https://bit.ly/40LgrUj).
The WA Museum has told StreetWise it did not want to get involved as management of the island was transferred to traditional custodians in 2015.
The island was named and charted by French explorers in 1801 and the first petroglyphs recorded by the crew of HMS Beagle, whose 1840 visit is recorded at Anchor Hill and other sites on the island.
Depuch’s petroglyphs number several thousand and date back to at least to 7000 to 8000 years ago, the 5km by 3km island located just 3km from the historic town of Balla Balla between Karratha and Port Hedland.
WA Museum scientists described Depuch as a, “repository of Australian prehistory no less significant than such world-renowned prehistoric art galleries as the caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne and Altamira in northern Spain”. Then WA Education and Native Welfare Minister Edgar Lewis stating on December 23, 1964: “Now, we have an accurate statement of the island in its context as one of the most remarkable native art sites in existence and of which we, as Western Australians, can be justly proud.”
Australian archaeologist Robert Bednarik has told StreetWise: “It would be much easier to submit (Depuch Island) to the World Heritage Listing than the badly compromised Dampier sites … there are great inland areas in the Pilbara worthy of nomination.”
He said at Murujuga, about 24 per cent of the rock art had been destroyed since 1965: “There is a planned harbour development near Depuch, which was never raised with the Dampier issues.”
Dr Bedranik identified most of the rock art at Burrup in the 1960s, having recorded 572 sites. He says much of the rock art immediately adjacent to existing industry has slowly deteriorated (‘Depuch rock art listing ‘difficult’: Minister’ at https://bit.ly/3IauH0L).
About 90km from the Burrup, Depuch is banned to Aboriginal women and uninitiated men who warn people not to travel there because of the spirits guarding their culture.
The Government then described Depuch as one of, “the most remarkable native art sites in existence and of which we, as Western Australians, can be justly proud”.
The Premier, former Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt and NAC have not responded to requests for a comment.

by Carmelo Amalfi and Titus North