Ancient WA rock art given UNESCO World Heritage status after 20-year campaign

London: Ancient rock art from Western Australia has been given World Heritage status in a landmark decision in Paris after two decades of campaigning by Indigenous leaders to protect the landscape.

The decision adds the Murujuga Cultural Landscape to a register of the world’s most important sites, after a formal vote by a council of 21 nations at the United Nations’ peak cultural agency.

One of the engravings at the rock art gallery in Murujuga national park.Credit: Emma Young

The Murujuga petroglyphs, which are at least 45,000 years old and located on the Burrup Peninsula in Australia’s far north-west, became the country’s 21st World Heritage site alongside the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and Uluru.

But the decision was hotly contested after environmental groups and some Indigenous leaders accused gas company Woodside of damaging the landscape.

While some members of the community have campaigned against the government as part of a group called Save Our Songlines, traditional owners from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation hailed the outcome at UNESCO.

Heritage officer Belinda Churnside addressed the World Heritage Committee in her Indigenous language before thanking them for granting the highest status to the site.

Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chairman Peter Hicks and heritage officer Belinda Churnside.

“We have all come here together, from far away, from the Murujuga lands,” she told them after the decision.

“This has been a long-awaited journey and a fight for our elders. And we are thankful to receive this recognition [on] a global scale.”

More than 1 million petroglyphs are scattered around Murujuga National Park.Credit: Bianca Hall

The UNESCO committee included representatives from Kenya, Japan, Rwanda, Ukraine and other countries. It made its decision on Friday afternoon in Paris, shortly before midnight AEST.

Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chairman Peter Hicks told the UNESCO committee that community elders began seeking the listing decades ago.

“They’re not here today; this is for them,” he said. “Today, we create our own stories in the stone – but with some care and protection of our culture, like our ancestors have always done for 50,000 years.”

The World Heritage Committee looked set to reject the Australian application in May this year when it issued a draft decision that raised concerns about industrial development around the Murujuga landscape.

The concerns matched those of environmental groups and some Indigenous leaders strongly opposed to the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at Woodside’s facilities nearby. Rio Tinto and fertiliser giant Yara also have operations near the rock art.

More than 1 million petroglyphs cover the protected site that spans 5400 hectares, although thousands of examples of the art were destroyed from the 1960s onward in the industrial development.

Some petroglyphs depict people, birds, fish, turtles and the thylacine – the Tasmanian tiger. The site attracts about 35,000 tourists each year.

The UNESCO draft decision in May sought more time for the World Heritage nomination by sending it back to the federal government over concerns about industrial development.

The Save Our Songlines group, including former Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chair Raelene Cooper, had urged the state and federal governments to curb Woodside’s expansion to protect the Indigenous site.

“It is essential that the final UNESCO decision requires a moratorium on any extensions or expansions of industry located on Murujuga,” Cooper said in the days leading up to the outcome in Paris.

In a statement after the decision, Cooper said she was overjoyed to see the World Heritage listing but believed the federal government had lobbied against stronger protections for the site.

“Comments from World Heritage Committee members today send a clear signal to the Australian government and Woodside that things need to change to prevent the ongoing desecration of Murujuga by polluting industry,” she said.

Environment Minister Murray Watt angered the environmental movement in May by approving an extension of Woodside’s gas processing plant on the Burrup peninsula from 2030 to 2070.

Watt lobbied members of the World Heritage Committee to approve the application despite the concerns in May, speaking to the meeting in Paris as member countries emphasised their worries about the industrial development.

The approval came with repeated comments from member countries about continued monitoring of pollution and the use of safeguards to prevent damage to the landscape.

Watt said the UNESCO decision added a “layer of protection” to the site, which was already protected on an Australian heritage register.

“Now, getting World Heritage listing, that actually expands the footprint of the area that’s going to be protected under Australian law,” he said.

“In fact, it will now be three times the area compared to the current Murujuga landscape that will now gain environmental protection under Australian law.”

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