Rock art erased by policy failures ‘stretching back decades’

A systemic failure of policy over many decades has compromised southeast Australia’s most valuable Aboriginal rock art.

Grampians National Park.

A systemic failure of policy over many decades has compromised southeast Australia’s most valuable Aboriginal rock art, leading to neglect and failure to combat desecration of sacred sites.

Official documents show governments have known for decades that Grampians National Park ­indigenous art has been vulnerable due to a failure to properly protect heritage sites.

Archaeological, conservation and cultural heritage experts have warned for decades that erosion, vandalism, overuse and general neglect were occurring.

One report lamented the Grampians had become a human desert, where evidence of indigenous heritage was being erased.

The situation was so bad at the turn of the century that a cultural heritage paper highlighted how the condition of the park’s public indigenous art sites had recently degenerated into a state of embarrassment.

A 1982 Victorian Archaeological Survey warned that erosion of rock paint was leading to art disappearing and that an “ultimate salvage’’ operation was needed to save it across the national park.

The reports came many years before Parks Victoria imposed a 500sq km ban on rock climbing in a move condemned by the international climbing community.

The Australian can reveal a new report into rock art and climbing in the Grampians will detail how Parks Victoria failed to communicate for decades to climbers about cultural heritage issues in the park. That report, prepared by cultural heritage expert Ben Gunn, Parks Victoria’s Jake Goodes and others, is critical of rock climbing in parts of the park, particularly the use of bolts and chalk, accusing some climbers of vandalism. It notes that discussions were held with climbers as far back as the 1980s about rock art but it ­appears Parks Victoria did not act on the concerns until the start of this year, when it imposed the bans without an education process or meaningful discussions.

Australian Climbing Association Victoria president Mike Tomkins said there was no evidence that climbers had used graffiti on sacred sites and rejected claims bona fide climbers had caused vandalism.

A Parks Victoria spokesman said: “The damage that has ­occurred to heritage sites in the Grampians is unacceptable, and we are currently working with traditional owners, local communities and key user groups to raise awareness of, evaluate and remediate sites of significance.’’

The extent to which governments have failed the protection of rock art is graphically detailed in the Victorian Archaeological Survey of 1982, which warned that art was so extensively compromised that “the ultimate salvage’’ was needed to save it. This is nearly 40 years before the climbing ban.

“The grandeur of the Gram­pians is now a human desert and most traces of the prehistoric ­Aboriginal population have vanished,’’ according to the VAS, which was conducted for the Labor-era Ministry for Conservation. “The least we can do is to ­attempt this ultimate salvage.’’

In 2001, professor Ian Clark warned that governments had ­failed to properly manage 10 key indigenous art sites.

Citing a 1990 meeting at Halls Gap, he said there had been confusion about managing the issue.

When efforts were made to ­address the crisis under the Cain government, he said: “The condition of the public art sites had degenerated to such a state that they were an embarrassment.

“It was the opinion of staff at the (Victorian Archaeological Survey) that ad hoc decisions had plagued the management of art sites and associated research for the previous 15 years or so (back to 1975), which had left a legacy of partly completed site works and inefficiently expended funds.’’

The first reports of vandalism at the Grampians were as early as the late 1800s, when shearers and shepherds were accused of writing names with charcoal over the ancient art at the Billimina shelter.

The government has been trying to resolve the rock climbing row, with suggestions a compromise will be reached after voting occurs in the Victorian treaty ­process.