‘Manifestation of creative genius’: Murujuga rock art in Western Australia placed on Unesco world heritage list
Aboriginal delegation ‘elated’ after 20-year effort to have the ‘genius’ inscribed despite threat of emissions from nearby gas facility
The Western Australian Murujuga landscape of more than a million pieces of Indigenous rock art, some as old as 50,000 years, was inscribed on the world heritage list on Friday after a lobbying campaign by the Australian government persuaded a 21-country committee that nearby industrial emissions were not eroding the rocks.
At a meeting of the world heritage committee in Paris, the Murujuga cultural landscape was acknowledged as a “manifestation of creative genius, inscribed in the landscape since deep time”.
The nomination was led by the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), and members of its delegation in Paris were in tears as the decision was confirmed. Traditional owners had been pushing for world heritage status for the site for two decades.
Murujuga becomes Australia’s 21st world heritage site, joining places such as the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and Lord Howe Island, and global sites including the Great Wall of China, Macu Picchu, the temples of Angkor and the pyramids of Giza.
Murujuga also becomes Australia’s second world heritage site recognised for its Aboriginal cultural values, joining the 6,600-year-old Budj Bim aquaculture system in Victoria that was inscribed in 2019.
The site, covering almost 100,000 hectares, was initially the land of Yaburara people who were massacred by colonists in 1868. The Ngarda-Ngarli people now look after the site.
The petroglyphs – many created by striking rocks with harder rocks – depict plants, animals, some of which are now extinct, and humans, including some of the earliest anthropomorphic images on earth.
The site is close to industrial plants, including Woodside’s Karratha gas plant, and UN advisers had recommended the nomination be referred back to Australia until sources of “degrading acidic emissions” were removed, and for any further industrial development to be stopped.
The government argued the UN’s advisers, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, had relied on “factual inaccuracies” and pointed to a major monitoring report – the work of about 50 scientists – which it said showed there was no ongoing risk to the rock art – a claim contested by a small group of scientists.
Of the 21-country committee, Kenya successfully moved an amendment to immediately inscribe Murujuga, supported by Senegal, Zambia, Rwanda, Ukraine, South Korea, Japan, Qatar, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Belgium, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Italy, Mexico and India.
Murujuga was inscribed for three criteria: the site represents “a masterpiece of human creative genius”; is a unique testimony to a cultural tradition; and is an outstanding example of a cultural or human settlement showing interaction with the environment.
The Australian government, including environment minister Murray Watt, had been in Paris to lobby for the inscription alongside delegations from the Western Australian government and MAC.
The chair of MAC, Peter Hicks, said the group was elated, and the inscription was “recognition of the way our ancestors have managed this extraordinary landscape for over 50,000 years. We are proud to continue that legacy.”
Watt said: “This victory belongs to the Ngarda-Ngarli – the traditional owners and custodians of Murujugua whose deep knowledge, cultural leadership and enduring connection to country are at the heart of this inscription.”
He said the inscription would add further protection to the site. The minister has provisionally approved an extension to Woodside’s gas plant until 2070, but the conditions of the approval that relate to emissions from the plant are still being negotiated.
The Save our Songlines group, which included former MAC chair and Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper, was also in Paris calling for the committee to stick to the ICOMOS recommendations.
Cooper said it was a “momentous day for our old people and future generations”, but added: “Today, Australia rewrote the world heritage listing in the interests of the gas industry. Even though 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.”
While backing the inscription, several committee members expressed concern that industrial emissions needed to be monitored.
Cooper said: “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.”