Burrup rock art: Research risks UNESCO World Heritage pitch

The scientist behind a study said it was still too early to say that current industrial emissions were not affecting the Burrup Peninsula’s rock art.

Rock art on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula. Picture: Murujuga Aboriginal Corp

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

New research out of Germany has challenged some of the key findings from the major government-backed study into the impact of industrial emissions on the rock art of Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula, muddying the waters of the federal and state governments’ pitches to ­secure a World Heritage listing for the area.

A dissertation published this week by Bonn University geologist Jolam Neumann contradicts the recent conclusion from the high-profile Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program, finding the weathering of the area’s extensive rock art was “most likely impacted by industrial pollution, with weathering rates very likely already accelerated”.

The conclusion sits in contrast with the summary of the ­recent MRAMP study, which ­argued that current industrial emissions did not appear to be damaging the more than one million ancient petroglyphs of the Burrup. The MRAMP study’s summary argued that damage identified in the area had been caused by an old diesel-fuelled power plant that ceased operating in the early 1990s.

The MRAMP findings have been front and centre of the efforts by the federal and WA governments and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation to salvage the World Heritage listing, after a draft recommendation presented to UNESCO called for the application to be returned to Australia until it took action to curtail industrial activity in the area. The Burrup is home to some of Australia’s biggest industrial projects, including the huge North West Shelf LNG plant.

The federal government has been lobbying intensely to salvage the World Heritage listing, and there has been growing confidence that UNESCO will inscribe the site when it considers the proposal at its Paris meeting on Friday.

The research by Dr Neumann involved exposing rock samples from the Burrup to industrial emissions inside a ­laboratory, simulating six years of exposure to varying pollution levels.

The project also involved the assessment of a rock that was taken from the area in the early 1990s, and which did not show the same levels of damage identified in rocks sourced from the Burrup more recently.

Speaking to The Australian, Dr Neumann said it was clear from the findings of his research and the recent MRAMP study it was too early to draw a conclusion that the Burrup’s ­petroglyphs were safe.

“I’m not able to definitively prove or disprove if there is something going on or if the ­petroglyphs are endangered, but I think my work gives some new insights which show that we have no final conclusion at the moment and we still need to do some work there to be sure what’s going on,” he said.

While Environment Minister Murray Watt and MAC chair Peter Hicks have both criticised environmental activists who they say have “hijacked” the World Heritage process, Dr Neumann said his research was totally independent.

“I’m not sitting in Australia, I’m not an activist, I have no political interests there, I’ve no stakes in the whole thing, of course it’s an interesting and important topic for me but to be honest I would have been happy to find out that there’s nothing to worry about,” he said.

“You cannot be sure that there is nothing going on at the moment.”

He said his research found that erosion of the Burrup rocks was accelerated at pH levels that had been detected on multiple instances in the area.

A sample of rock taken from WA's Burrup Peninsula by Robert Bednarik in 1994.

The analysis of the rock sample taken from the 1990s – and first reported by The Australian in May – found that it had much higher concentrations of manganese than samples taken more recently, indicating significant changes to the rock in the area in the past 30 years.

Senator Watt, WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn and a delegation of 17 people from MAC are in Paris for Friday’s decision.

Save Our Songlines’ Raelene Cooper, who has led a campaign against the North West Shelf, is also in Paris to push for UNESCO to impose conditions as part of the heritage listing.

On Wednesday, Greens leader Larissa Waters called on Senator Watt to release the confidential proposed conditions imposed on the North West Shelf extension to UNESCO

“Minister Watt is now engaged in a lobbying exercise to dupe other nations when he should have simply rejected Woodside’s climate bomb extension in the first place,” she said.

“It’s not too late for Minster Watt to cancel the draft approval in order to give Murujuga its best shot at World Heritage listing, and protect the climate from this carbon bomb.”