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Friends of Australian Rock Art’s AGM Lecture

Benjamin Smith, Professor of Archaeology (World Rock Art), UWA speaking about the Petroglyphs on the Burrup

Date: 16 March 2023 at 2pm

Venue: Quaker Hall, 35 Clifton Cres, Mount Lawley

Donation: $5 cash at the door, if not a FARA Member

Tea / Coffee and Nibbles will be served

Enquires: 0439 641 227 Sue

Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) works to protect, preserve and promote Australian rock art in general, and in particular the petroglyphs found in the Dampier Archipelago (including Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) works to protect, preserve and promote Australian rock art in general, and in particular the petroglyphs found in the Dampier Archipelago (including Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

FARA acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and to the elders, present and past.

Murujunga National Park

The Burrup Peninsula

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The Burrup Peninsula (or Murujuga) is a unique ecological, spiritual and archaeological area since it possibly contains the world’s oldest, largest and most important collections of petroglyphs and ancient rock carvings. The peninsula is part of the Dampier Archipelago which is comprised of 42 islands in a 45km radius. The Burrup Peninsula, approximately 27km long and 5km wide, was originally an island that formed part of this grouping until it was joined to the mainland in the mid-1960s by a rail and road causeway built by industry.

The Burrup Peninsula is located on the north-western coast of Western Australia on the Dampier Archipelago.

All visitors must follow and respect the Murujuga general and cultural protocols for visitors.

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Dampier Rock Art Precinct comprises possibly the largest concentration of petroglyphs (rock carvings) in the world and possibly the largest number of megaliths (stone arrangements) known in Australia. Estimates of the number of rock art motifs range from 300,000 to well over 1,000,000 images. There are many types and styles of carvings in the Archipelago, which are thought to represent a period from our recent history up to 40,000 years in age, straddling the last ice age some 17,000 years ago. The place constitutes the greatest continuous cultural site in Australia.

The Archipelago is also a site of great aesthetic attributes, visual and non-visual, being the place where the magnificent hills of the Pilbara meet the Indian Ocean. It has considerable value as a geological showcase and it is home to three endangered animal species and 39 endangered or endemic plant species. It has impressive marine life (dugong, turtle beaches and whale nursery) and wetland areas. But its significance as Australia’s largest monument to Indigenous culture completely overshadows all its other qualities. Its importance to Australia and the world is apparent by the fact that it meets all of the nine criteria for World Heritage listing.

Petroglyphs are numerous in many other parts of Australia, but nowhere do they even remotely approach those of Dampier in terms of number, history, variety or continuity. The rock art of the Archipelago remains an important cultural focus for Aboriginal people in the region, comprising as it does thousands of sacred images and ceremonial sites (e.g. tharlu increase sites). It remains an utterly sacred place not only to the local Indigenous communities, but also for all Australians and, indeed, all people. This quintessentially Australian and entirely unique cultural property needs to be included on the World Heritage List. It is a place of unparalleled artistic, cultural, religious and historical significance, as well as a place of magnificent natural beauty.

In 1962-64 the Western Australian Government determined to use Dampier Island (Burrup) in the Dampier Archipelago as the location of an outlet port for the iron ore industry. It did so seemingly on the basis of an incorrect report from the WA Museums department that had indicated that there were only 200 carvings in the Dampier Archipelago. By 1973, Enzo Virili had recorded 6,000 carvings on the Burrup in a 5 square mile area and 4,000 of these were in Gum Tree Valley alone. No further evaluation, that has been sighted, was ever carried out into the suitability of this area for industrial development, either based on site costs, environmental or heritage values.

There have been a number of reports into planning for industrial development of the Dampier Archipelago, none of which, until the latest reports to the federal minister, have addressed the industrial conflicts in one of human kind’s earliest and most significant heritage sites. Even with today’s knowledge of the international importance of the area, the State government continues to invest in industrial infrastructure on the Burrup, stating that they are on track to turn the Burrup into the main industrial hub for the Asia Pacific region.

Lieutenant General John Sanderson, who was the State government’s Indigenous Affairs Special Adviser stated in answer to questions about protecting the rock art, “Absolutely. I mean this is an amazing collection of art. We are talking about tens of thousands of pieces of art, 20,000 years old carved in granite. Most Australians would watch the television shows and think that it was a few primitive scratchings on rock. We are talking about an ice age culture, we are talking about Aboriginal temples in the rock.”

The current industrial footprint is 16 sq km out of the 117 sq km of the Burrup, though current leases cover a much larger area. In the footprint area at least 10,000 petroglyphs have already been destroyed. State land use planning has defined that an area of only 49.3 sq km (44%) is to be protected from industry. This protected area is to be opened up, have a road driven through it and turned into a tourism and recreation area.

Friends of Australian Rock Art or FARA, first came together in November 2005 as the Friends of Pilbara Rock Art, convened by the National Trust WA.

Since then the organisation has grown to become an independent incorporated association that is still focused on raising awareness of the threat to rock art on the Dampier Archipelago.

FARA Membership

To join FARA, please click on this link.
Applications must be received by FARA seven days prior to an AGM (generally held in March).

All of FARA’s activities are undertaken by volunteers who are passionate about the protection, preservation and promotion of rock art, particularly that of the Dampier Archipelago.

There have been some real successes along the way, with many more people now aware of how precious the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago is.

Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) works to protect, preserve and promote Australian rock art in general, and in particular the petroglyphs found in the Dampier Archipelago (including Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. 

Vision

To allow future generations to marvel at the beauty of Australia’s rich rock art cultural heritage.

Mission

Friends of Australian Rock Art’s mission is to protect, preserve and promote the rock art of this very ancient human landscape, forged by numerous generations of Aboriginal people who have continuously lived in the area for millennia.

HOW WE DO IT

Protect – we engage with State and Federal government and industry to ensure no further industrial development takes place on the Burrup Peninsula, but rather in more suitable locations. We liaise with those companies which are already established, to look at ways to minimise the impact of their activities (such as direct and indirect emissions, controlled explosions, and land clearance).

Preserve – FARA works in conjunction with local Traditional Owners to ensure that it promotes local knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner.

We also build alliances with Universities and research institutes to further investigate the impacts of large-scale human activities on the rock art and identify possible solutions.

Promote – we run an educational tour once a year, to allow people from all over Australia and beyond to visit and marvel at the beauty and complexity of this landscape. We seek to educate the broader community about the history of Australia prior to European settlement.

This is a long list, but FARA is proud of its long achievements and continuing fight for this unique cultural asset.

• Original international Stand Up for the Burrup campaign which drew the world’s attention to the plight of the rock art
• 2006: FARA founded with 10 members – not-for-profit incorporated status granted
• 2007: Hon Malcolm Turnbull announcing National Heritage Listing of the Burrup
• 2007: FARA’s first guided tour to the Burrup rock art, including Dr Carmen Lawrence, anthropologists Prof Sylvia Hallam & Caroline Bird.
• 2007: First interview (of 3) in Karratha with Phillip Adams on Late Light Live
• 2010 FARA provide a submission to Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) expressing concerns about the proposed development of an ammonium nitrate plant adjacent to the existing fertiliser plant.
• 2010 Dr John Black (JB) goes on tour. Questions the CSIRO reports which claimed no damage had been done or would be done to the rock art by industrial emissions which were were being used to justify establishment of the ammonium nitrate plant.
• 2010-13: FARA with JB , has numerous meetings with state and federal ministers an agencies, and Yara Pilbara explaining that the CSIRO reports were not credible.
• 2010:  FARA begins series of meetings with Woodside to urge them to reduce their toxic emissions from Joint Ventures and Pluto LNG plants on Burrup
• 2010: Re-establishment of air monitoring procedures by government after lengthy abeyance and re-analysing of data in 2007 CSIRO study, following persistent and credible criticism
• 2011-12: FARA meeting with Tony Burke, then Environment Minister, in Canberra to urge World Heritage listing (WHL) for the Burrup rock art. Burke orders Australian Heritage Council, under chair Dr Carmen Lawrence, to examine the outstanding universal values of the rock art, who confirms Burrup’s eligibility for WHL but recommends further engagement with the Aboriginal custodians
• 2013 FARA takes two senior Elders to Canberra to urge Tony Burke to grant WHL to their endangered traditional land, Murujuga
• 2013-16 FARA meets frequently with YARA Pilbara to urge them to reduce the emissions from their proposed TAN plant to near zero. Their reply: why should they go to that expense when the WA government does not require it?
• 2014-16: JB signs a confidentiality agreement with WA government to receive CSIRO data from which they concluded there had been no consistent change in colour of petroglyphs or background rock from 2004 to 2014. JB, using the CSIRO data, showed that 70% of all sites measured by CSIRO became significantly lighter in colour, but WA Minister for Environment refused request to publish the results. Later, WA government finally accepted that the accepted science to date is wrong.
• 2015-18: JB and FARA draft plans for scientific project to measure and mitigate the damage done to the rock art by industrial emissions. Meet with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation’s Circle of Elders 3-4 times to seek approval and collaboration: verbal agreement but no written resolution reached.
• 2016: FARA seeks help of Bob Brown Foundation and Christine Milne (CM) is sent to investigate the Burrup situation and meet with main stakeholders.
• 2016: CM instrumental in getting up Federal Senate Inquiry into the dangers facing the Burrup rock art.
• 2017: FARA engages with UWA’s Centre for Rock Art Research + Management (CRAR+M) to further the Rock Art Conservation project
• 2017: FARA meets with Stephen Dawson, WA Environment Minister, and urges action be taken to protect the Burrup rock art from industrial emissions, particularly those of Yara Pilbara before it is granted its operating licence. JB shares his Conservation project draft: asks for government support.
• 2017: FARA meet with Norwegian ambassador in Canberra to ask for their government’s intervention with YARA to reduce emissions as the government owns almost 50% of Yara International.
• 2017: FARA  meet with Minister Frydenberg (Environment) seeking nomination for WHL and Federal intervention through EPBC in reducing emission limits for the ammonium nitrate plant.
• 2017: launch of interdisciplinary independent scientific project to monitor industrial pollution on Murujuga and changes to rock art, to model the future effects of identified pollution, and to recommend measures to mitigate damage.
• 2017: WA government seeks public submissions to inform the establishment of a Burrup Rock Art Strategic Reference Group (BRASRG) – FARA contributes and is named one of the Stakeholders
• 2018: The Senate report on the Burrup was finally tabled on Wednesday 21 March after one year’s delay.
• 2018: BRASRG established, FARA excluded but JB allowed to remain as an independent scientific consultant. Two meetings held, final strategy imminent
• 2019 – Jan: FARA seeks legal advice from EDO and applies for Judicial Review of Yara Pilbara’s operating licence granted by DWER on 29 June 2018
• 2019 – Jan: FARA sends submission to Federal EPBC to impede Woodside’s Scarborough expansion project
• 2019 – Feb: BRASRG’s Strategy announced – elongated plans for a monitoring program while new industry continues to be encouraged.
• 2018 – Mar: The Senate report on the Burrup was finally tabled on Wednesday 21 March after one year’s delay.
• 2018 – Aug:McGowan Government to begin UNESCO World Heritage nomination process for the Burrup Peninsula
  World Heritage Summit on Murujuga on Monday 6th August, with Tim Winton as patron.
• 2018 – Apr: WA Government proposes extensive new industrial development on the Burrup, risking the likelihood of World Heritage Listing of this world treasure
• 2019 – Jan: FARA seeks legal advice from EDO and applies for Judicial Review of Yara Pilbara’s operating licence granted by DWER on 29 June 2018
• 2019 – Jan: FARA sends submission to Federal EPBC to impede Woodside’s Scarborough expansion project
• 2019 – Feb: BRASRG’s Strategy announced – elongated plans for a monitoring program while new industry continues to be encouraged.

Goals for the protection of the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago (including Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula):

• To work in collaboration with Traditional Owners, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, Rangers and other stakeholders.
• To engage with academia and research institutes to further the understanding of the rock art and people associated with it
• To meet with policy makers and politicians to evaluate best possible outcomes for the protection of the rock art and the empowerment of the communities
• To consult with industry about mutually beneficial ways to mitigate impacts on the exceptional heritage
• To achieve World Heritage listing status by UNESCO as a means to further protect, preserve and promote this rock art for future generations to enjoy

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FARA’s dedicated volunteer committee is elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.

We are always looking for committed people to give their time and skills to the work of FARA – even if you can only spare a few hours.

To nomiate for the Committee, please visit this link to apply securely online for FARA Membership.
Applications must be received by FARA seven days prior to an AGM (generally held in March).

Contact FARA via post c/- CCWA, Lotteries House, 2 Delhi St, West Perth WA 6005

Committee meetings:
First Tuesday of every month at 6pm.

All meetings to be held at Lotteries House, 2 Delhi St, West Perth WA 6005, unless stated otherwise.

Co-convenors

• Stephen Bennetts
• Marie Ferland
• Judith Hugo

• Judith Hugo
• Marie Ferland

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