Murujuga custodians want ministerial action over rock art

Sacred rock art of an emu at Murujuga
Sacred rock art of an emu at Murujuga

Traditional custodians of Murujuga, also known as the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, have written to the Federal Environment Minister and Indigenous Affairs Minister demanding immediate intervention following works approval for the Perdaman fertiliser plant
on the Burrup including the removal of several sacred rock art sites.

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Murujuga custodians Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec sent an urgent letter to Tanya Plibersek and Linda Burney, demanding the Minister contact Perdaman immediately and request the company does not commence any works while the government determines outstanding cultural heritage applications regarding industrial impact on the rock art.

Murujuga traditional custodians first applied for emergency assessment of cultural heritage impacts under Section 9 and Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act (ATSHIPA) on February 9 this year, more than five months ago.

Section 9 of the Act provides for a 60-day moratorium on any works while Section 10 of the Act allows the appointment of a Reporter to assess cultural heritage impacts of industry. An initial stop work order was issued to Perdaman to allow Ministerial consideration of the emergency Section 9 application which was rejected in March on the grounds that Perdaman were unable to commence work on the fertiliser plant within 60 days without works approval and management plans.

Following the Federal election, custodians again wrote to new Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney renewing the Section 9 application and requesting the appointment of a Reporter to assess the cultural heritage impacts of
industry on the Burrup, as per Section 10 of ATSHIPA. They have received no response to either request.

On July 14, the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation granted final works approval for the Perdaman Fertiliser Plant on the Burrup, which includes the removal of three rock art sites and impacts multiple other sacred sites within the footprint of the proposed plant.

Murujuga custodians Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec wrote urgently to Minister Plibersek and Burney with three demands:

1. Contact Perdaman immediately and request that the company does not commence any works until the Minister has determined the outstanding section 9 application;

2. Use their ministerial powers to stop ‘the serious and immediate threat of injury or desecration’ to our cultural heritage through Perdaman’s completely inappropriate project.

3. Immediately appoint a section 10 reporter to consider overall industrial impacts to our cultural heritage on the Burrup as requested in the application of 9 February 2022.

Murujuga traditional custodians spoke earlier this month at the United Nations in Geneva about industrial impacts on sacred Murujuga rock art, and last Sunday July 11 organised the largest ever protest march on Murujuga to oppose any more industry on the Burrup.

Tootsie Daniel, senior Yindjibarndi elder and member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation Circle of Elders cultural advisory group, said, “I worry about country. Country is important to us because it’s our life, you know, our Mother Nature. All our song lines and rock carvings, they come from country, which is very important. But what I care about mostly is about what Perdaman is going to do to our country. Our cultural belongings should not be moved from place to place. Perdaman should not remove cultural things—our cultural property, it’s our religion and our culture. Our belief is strong.”

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“We don’t want any of our rock engravings to be removed, or the sites to be removed from their original places—it’s their homeland. And that’s why we need to stand together, and be strong and have the same voice, and with the same shout we need to march forward and I believe we need to rise strongly. We have to stand and protect it, and we don’t want any industry to ever remove it. If industry removes it, it will be dangerous, very dangerous. We want to protect Murujuga for our own children, our family, because our children need to learn from it, because Murujuga is like a Bible.”

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