Sat 21 Apr 2007
Wollemi, Burrup and Woodside
Posted by jangari under Environment, Indigenous, Politics
[5] Comments
Apparently a site of great cultural significance has been found in Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. It’s a 100m x 50m sandstone slab covered in shallow engravings that are invisible for most of the day, emerging only in the angular light of dawn and dusk. From the substance of the engravings it is being compared to Mount Olympus, in that it supposedly depicts various deities and mythological creatures such as an ‘eagle man’ as well as “an evil and powerful club-footed being, infamous for eating children.”
The site is being described as ‘the most amazing rock engraving site in the whole of couth-eastern Austalia’. Probably second only to the thousands of known individual rock engravings on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, which was a hot topic of debate at the end of last year, but for one reason or another, has fallen from the spotlight of late.
Woodside Petroleum want to build an on-shore natural liquefied natural gas plant on the peninsula – which, by the way, will process the spoils of Australia’s support for East-Timorese independence back in 2002 (read about it here) – but the rock art is unfortunately precisely where they want to build it.
At the time, we recorded about 9500 engravings on our North West Shelf leases, many of which remain undisturbed today. About 1800 were relocated. (from Woodside Petroleum’s website)
The same website claims that Woodside are working with local Aborigines to minimise any impact on the remainder, but from all news pieces on the matter, this is by no means uncontroversial.
No matter what we try and do, it’s the Minister is the one who’s got the answer. We could sit and cry day and night and they’ll just turn around and say, “There’s only black fellas. We’ll just go straight through them. We want this project to go ahead. We’ll go straight through it.” And that’s the way it’s happening. (Wilfred Hicks talking to the 7:30 report)
Hicks refers to the Minister for Environment (former Minister by now; Howard shuffles them around so often that it’s amazing they actually know what their portfolios are) Ian Campbell, who refuses to assign heritage listing to the Burrup, citing economic growth as the reason (and this is was the Minister for the Environment, not Industry).
Anyone who knows the extent of this rock art, and who says that none of it should be disturbed is taking an absolutist position that will hurt Australia’s economy and it will hurt the world’s environment. (transcript of a PM program, taken from the department’s website)
He mentions hurting the world’s environment here because of the relative benefits of natural gas as opposed to other forms of fossil fuels, but that is another debate altogether. To cut a long story short, I am skeptical that they would reduce any use of coal-power, just because of an influx of gas, and, by the time the gas is exported on diesel-powered ships, the difference in emissions is greatly reduced.
Having said that, it isn’t just the federal government taking an unreasonable economic-growth-trumps-all argument; understandably, the Western Australian government is keen to preserve the state’s 14% growth. And at the end of the day, why let a bunch of old rocks get in the way of inherently unsustainable economic growth?
Luckily, Wollemi National Park is nowhere near any politically hot natural gas reserves (as far as we know!) so it has a good chance of gaining the heritage listing that the Burrup desperately needs.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
being so far away from the beaten track means that it’d be much easier to get away with it. i think Wilfred Hicks is correct in his blunt statement. if it was of emotional importance (read tourism dollars) to white australia or international tourists then it’d stay. once howard gets away with weakening and breaking up the land councils we’ll see more of this disregard for culturaly significant sites.
April 21st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Sadly I think you’re right. Government (generally) doesn’t appear to do much that doesn’t immediately yield a profitable return.
I remember seeing a documentary a while back on the Burrup Peninsula (I wasn’t on the Peninsula, the documentary was about it – I’m avoiding ambiguity) and apparently the tribal group that once claimed ownership of the site, and therefore claimed lineage to the rock artists, has completely disappeared, which only complicates the issue. I will say no more as I can remember no more.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:14 am
Just saw this having today returned from the Pilbara where I was doing some salvage work on the language of the Burrup (and surrounding islands of the Dampier Archipelago).
On around 17th April (actually before this blog entry was written) Malcolm Turnbull was on the Burrup and declared that the rock art there will be listed as a heritage area.
Jangari, while that claim has often been made, the group which claims descent from the people of the Dampier Archipelago has not completely disappeared, there are a few left. It is very sad that the art will be disturbed, and it is to be hoped that none will be damaged and the stuff to be moved gets documented in depth. I know that Aboriginal people from the area are involved in this whole process, so hopefully their views will have some impact on the way things are done.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:31 am
Thanks for the input, Doug.
I hadn’t known Turnbull announced that at the time, but from what I’m reading now, it seems as though it will ‘accommodate’ Woodside’s plans for expansion.
It seems to me that their argument is ‘we’re only going to relocate a small percentage, so cut us some slack’. Difference of opinion, I suppose, as to whether every individual piece is invaluable or if a token representation of the rock art is adequate. I’d tend towards the former.
Thanks for the clarification, too. I was under the impression that there were two groups in the area, neither of which claim to be descended from the Dampier Archipelago, and that both were advocating the site’s protection in their lieu. But this was just a recollection from a Four Corners piece perhaps 18 months ago.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:05 am
The campaign to preserve the Burrup/Murujuga rock art, far from going quiet, has stepped up significantly in the last few months. More than 50 “Stand Up for the Burrup” protests have been held around the world in 2007, the Global Rally for the Burrup wil take place on 13 July 2007, and the Convergence at the Burrup will occur 16-19 July 2007.
See http://www.standupfortheburrup.com