Letters to Dr Gallop

Dampier petroglyph doomed to destruction by the government of Western Australia. Images by Murray Simon.

Academician Valentine Yanin
Moscow State University

Dear Dr Gallop,

Australia is known in Russia as a civilized country where rock art sites are under the protection of state and federal governments, except in Western Australia. Since rock art is the country's only major indigenous or genuinely Australian cultural material asset, this is most appropriate. We know that Australia lacks the palaces, castles, temples, pyramids and other historical structures that underpin the cultural consciousness of older countries, but it more than makes up for this with its unique indigenous culture, the most ancient in the world that still exists.

But the plans of your government, Mr Premier, to obliterate the largest petroglyph complex in the world question your commitment to the preservation of this invaluable and irreplaceable patrimony. Your determination to build a large petrochemical complex in its place, in a state that has one of the lowest population densities on this planet and offers alternative nearby locations of almost unlimited area, is of the greatest international concern. You have tens of thousands of square kilometres of unused land available for petrochemical industry. You persist in locating Australia's greatest polluter in precisely the same place as one of the world's greatest cultural properties.

Moreover, we clearly understand that after decades of haggling with the rightful owners of this rock art, the local Aborigines, the property is no closer to repatriation then it was since your government massacred the local indigenes in 1868.

Mr Premier, we are trying very hard not to condemn your action on the basis of the evidence before us, but if the leader of a country that has done so much harm to the people it almost exterminated persists in obliterating the last vestiges of these people today, we are obliged to speak out. The world will not stand by idly and watch your government complete its policy of eradicating indigenous culture. The National Trust of Australia has nominated the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula for its list of endangered sites of Australia. This danger is not from natural attrition, it is not from war or poverty, and it is not even caused by greed. It is entirely caused by your government, and the only logical explanation we can find for this is that the destruction of Aboriginal rock art seems intentional.

Please relocate this development to one of the alternative sites you have and return the Burrup Peninsula to the Aboriginal people.

Sincerely,
Academician Valentine Yanin
Chief of the Archaeology Department
Moscow State University

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Dr Jean Clottes
Conservateur General du Patrimoine, France

Dear Dr Gallop,

I have been appalled to hear of the proposed destruction of much of the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula by the expanding of petrochemical processing plants. The fact that this is an official project of your government makes it much worse, especially as there are other possibilities for locating the plants.

The Burrup Peninsula rock art is reputed to be the largest corpus of petroglyphs in the world, thought to number somewhere between 250,000 and one million motifs. Therefore it is a heritage of major importance. It also represents the beliefs, the customs and art of the Aborigines who have lived there for many thousands of years. All this should and must be preserved, as it does not only belong to the present owners of the land: it belongs to all of Humankind and we are all concerned.

I am therefore appealing to you to reconsider the ill-advised decisions that were taken and to relocate those industrial plants where they can do no harm to what is a cultural treasure of world importance that one ought to be proud of.

Dr Jean Clottes
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Professor Dr Dario SEGLIE
Director, Museum of Prehistoric Art, Italy
IFRAO/UNESCO Liaison Officer

Dear Dr Gallop,

In my role of scholar in archaeology, specializing in rock art, and as IFRAO-UNESCO Liaison Officer and UISPP-UNESCO Chair for the Prehistoric Art Symposia, I had the privilege in 2000 to survey some of the rock art of Australia. During a joint mission with other international specialists I travelled extensively in your country, subsequent to the IFRAO International Rock Art Congress organized by AURA in Alice Springs.

The rock art patrimony of Australia is unique, beautiful, very important for the past of humanity, and most particularly it constitutes the main original cultural heritage of this continent. The conservation, preservation and popularization of this priceless heritage are vital. It is also an inalienable right for the governance and particularly for you, as Premier, an obligation to the nations and peoples in the whole world.

During my recent survey I have noted that Australia has some problems of environmental conservation of the archaeological or ethnographic sites: e.g. shelters with rock art are not adequately protected from bush fires. In the Australian Congress in Alice Springs I chaired a symposium about 'Rock Art and Sustainable Development Plans'; and during the presentations, discussions and round table debates the main conservation problems with Australian rock art were analyzed.

In your state, in Western Australia, in the Dampier Archipelago, the Burrup Peninsula is now witnessing the greatest crime against cultural heritage ever seen in the world: the progressive massive destruction of the archaeological sites with the oldest rock art, and of the related environment and landscape, and the fragile equilibrium with the Aboriginal communities, that are the traditional depositary of the ancient history and knowledge and whose members are the natural custodians of your original patrimony.

The Burrup rock art is one of the greatest heritage assets of the world, but in almost forty years, the Western Australian Government has not undertaken an inventory of the rock art, or any study to curb its destruction. It has consistently refused to protect the rock art and to return it to the possession of its rightful owners.

Your determination to put a large petrochemical industrial complex in its place, in a state that has one of the lowest population densities on the planet and offers alternative nearby locations of almost unlimited area, is of the greatest concern.

The National Trust of Australia has nominated the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula for its list of endangered sites of Australia. This danger is not from natural attrition, it is not from war or poverty, it is not even caused by greed. It is entirely caused by a political decision that promotes the destruction of Aboriginal heritage.

I am sure that my reflections are only a small part of our knowledge about your national patrimony, its value, the civil necessity to protect, to conserve and to inform your people - for your country and for our world.

In my stated opinion, 'environment in general, and rock art in particular, should be considered as something we have borrowed from our children rather than inherited from our parents' (cf. Dario Seglie, 'Save Rock Art', Ripon University, USA, 1999).

If you were to review this matter, relocate the development to one of the alternative sites you have, return the Burrup Peninsula to the Aboriginal people and design a plan for a National Natural and Cultural Park, with the candidature for the inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, I would be at your disposal to participate in independent scientific commission.

Awaiting your vital opinion, in accordance with your own state legislation, about this crucial international, federal and state problem, I send you my best wishes for your - surely enlightened - decision.

Yours sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Dario SEGLIE
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Leigh Marymor
Vice President and Acting Conservation Committee Chairperson
American Rock Art Research Association, U.S.A.

Dear Dr. Gallop,

Re: Rock Art Preservation on the Burrup Peninsula

The Aboriginal rock art sites of the Burrup Peninsula are recognized as one of the World's largest collections of indigenous rock art - a region worthy of World Heritage recognition and preservation. The entire region begs a thorough inventory and documentation of its cultural resources and a vigorous management plan to preserve these resources for future generations of Aborigines and World Citizens alike.

The current proposal to locate the Burrup Peninsula petrochemical processing plants in the midst of the Aboriginal rock art sites is a travesty. The destruction of the cultural value of the peninsula deprives local Aborigines of their rightful heritage and deprives Western Australia the potential for the development of appropriate cultural tourism in the region.

Clearly there are other suitable alternatives for the location of the petrochemical industry which we understand have been placed before you for consideration. Needless destruction of Aboriginal patrimony should never be allowed. Destruction of the Burrup Peninsula rock art and the degradation of the surrounding environment must not be allowed to take place.

The American Rock Art Research Association joins its voice with others around the World in an outcry against this looming desecration and beseeches your government to act on behalf of the protection of this irreplaceable World Heritage.

Respectfully,

Leigh Marymor
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moscow Center of Rock Art & Bioindication

Dear Dr Gallop,

Re: Burrup Peninsula rock art

We are referring to the plans of your government for greatly expanding the Burrup Peninsula petrochemical processing plants in order to exploit the offshore natural gas deposits. This small but extremely significant area contains one of the world's largest concentrations of rock art, and alternative and much more suitable industrial sites should be available nearby. We understand that you have been advised to locate the new industry at Maitland Estate, by individuals and organizations ranging from ICOMOS to Prince Charles, by conservationists, scientists, politicians, local residents, but most importantly, by the rightful owner of the rock art, the local Aboriginal communities.

We are greatly concerned that you are persisting with this course of typical modern kind of vandalizing your country's cultural heritage. If the Burrup Peninsula contained any valuable resource one could understand your determination, but as this site consists only of huge piles of rocks, your course of action is apparently calculated to destroy this very major vestige of great Aboriginal culture. We know that your government has already approved the destruction of 20-25% of the area’s rock art since 1964, and recent scientific evidence suggests that most of the rock art will have disappeared by the end of this century.

The Burrup rock art is one of the Greatest Heritage Assets of the world, which any civilized country would wish to call its own, yet you treat it with such complete contempt. In almost forty years, your government has not undertaken an inventory of the rock art, or any study to curb its destruction. It has consistently refused to protect the rock art and to return it to the possession of its rightful owners. We appeal to you to consider how history will judge your actions, and to reconsider your policy of turning the Burrup Peninsula into a wasteland.

Yours sincerely,
Members of Moscow Center of Rock Art & Bioindication
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Professor Robert Layton
Anthropology, University of Durham, United Kingdom

Dear Dr Gallop,

Re: Burrup Peninsula rock art

I was shocked to learn of your Government's plans greatly to expand the Burrup Peninsula petrochemical processing plants in association with the development of offshore natural gas deposits.

I studied the art of the Burrup Peninsula during the 1970s, and am familiar with the more detailed work of other anthropologists, including Kingsley Palmer and archaeologists, including Enzo Virili and Michel Lorblanchet. Palmer's work demonstrated that the Burrup art continues to be of significance to local Aboriginal communities (his work also, incidentally, confirmed the earlier findings of research by McCarthy and Tindale at Port Hedland). Lorblanchet obtained a date of 18,510 years before present from an ancient Aboriginal camp site adjacent to weathered engravings (petroglyphs), showing that some of the Burrup petroglyphs are among the oldest rock art in Australia. Changes in the art, and in Aboriginal camping patterns, also demonstrate how Australia's indigenous people adapted to the rising sea level after the last ice age, while some of the engravings were undoubtedly made within the last one hundred years.

The rock art of the Burrup Peninsula came to public attention in the 1960s, with the development of the Hamersley Iron and Dampier Salt companies. Threatened sites were first studied (and published) by Virili, an employee of the Dampier Salt Company. The art is now internationally famous. Having worked with ICOMOS on sites nominated for the World Heritage List, I have no doubt that the nomination of the Peninsula as a World Heritage Site would be favourably received. There is absolutely no reason for this industrial complex to be situated on the Burrup Peninsula (Murujuga), where already between 20-25% of the petroglyphs have been destroyed since 1964 by similar industrial estates. I appeal to you and your government to relocate the petrochemical processing plants to a less valuable, and less vulnerable area.

Yours sincerely,
(Prof.) Robert Layton
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B. K. Swartz, Jr., Emeritus Professor of Anthropology
Chairman, ACASPP, U.S.A.

Dear Dr Gallop,

I am writing this letter to you in regard to understandings I have about the construction of a petrochemical processing plant on the Burrup Peninsula (Murujuga).

I might initially state that the destruction of huge numbers of ancient and irreplaceable prehistoric design elements simply reduces data that can make us understand our past development. I find it hard to comprehend why one would not be disheartened by such policy. Why should remains that have survived for thousands of years simply to be wiped out for immediate expediency? Be this as it may I realize that many people are not concerned with such intellectual issues and put other matters first.

So therefore, let us only consider the pragmatics of this situation. As I understand it, there is extensive adjacent land just as suitable for the plant as the location presently earmarked. WHY NOT HAVE THE PLANT AND THE ROCK ART TOO? I assume there is important industrial use of the plant, but now you have preserved an extraordinary archaeological feature that would have worldwide interest. It could be developed and made into a tourist center. Now Western Australia would have greater development and MORE INCOME. I would think your role as the Premier of Western Australia would be to increase both wealth and the cultural resources of your state. It seems to me this is a win, win situation.

This letter is sent in the spirit of and cooperation and positive outlook.

Sincerely yours,
B. K. Swartz, Jr.
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Lic. Maria Mercedes Podesta
President, Sociedad Argentina de Antropologia

Dear Dr Gallop,

As in many other countries in South America, indigenous people have been decimated in Argentina since the precise moment they came into contact with Europeans. An intermittent chain of unfortunate historical events has since caused the disappearance of natives in most of the regions of our country.

Remains from the past allows archaeologists today to reconstruct some of that precious history before the 15th century A.D. A significant part of these remains are rock art (paintings, petroglyphs and geoglyphs) expressions which constitute one of the richest evidence to reconstruct some part of that indigenous past.

Viewing the past from the present, we can hardly understand the multitude of political, social and economic motivations that caused such a huge genocide. But today we can even less comprehend the conscious destruction of those aboriginal remains that are the last remaining contact we have with our ancestors. Any careless industrial development can lead a cultural genocide.

Archaeologists in Argentina, as other social-cultural organisations and NGOs, have recently become aware of the determination of your government to put a petrochemical industrial complex in Western Australia (an area that shares so many similarities with the south-eastern part of our country, the Patagonia region), placing under serious danger one of the largest rock art complexes in the world, on the Burrup Peninsula (Murujuga).

Australia is considered as an example in heritage sites management by the rest of the world. This new plan is entirely contrary the exemplary Australian policies in the other states. It is very important to relocate this development to stop causing more damage and destruction in the future and to return the land in question to the traditional owners.

Yours sincerely,

Lic. Maria Mercedes Podesta
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Jack Steinbring, Ph.D.
Past President, International Federation of Rock Art Organizations

Dear Dr Gallop:

Over the past few months, I have received a considerable body of data from colleagues showing that one of the world's premier prehistoric rock art concentrations is threatened with destruction in your territory. It would be my hope that you would avail yourself of this profound moment of opportunity, and save it. The entire world of archaeology, quite electric in the public mind, would praise you forever for such an historic act. I needn't tell you that the condoning of such an unparalleled destruction would raise the anger of the scientific world, precisely as the Taliban did in the destruction of sacred Buddhist monuments.

Respectfully yours,
Dr Jack Steinbring
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Prof. Dr Yu. A. Vedenin, Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage

Dear Dr. Gallop,

Re: Rock art destruction

The rock art and megalithic arrangements of the Burrup Peninsula are under threat of destruction from your government. This site is as important to the world as Stonehenge or Machu Picchu, its petroglyphs are many thousands of years old. Among them are pictures of thylacines, an animal species exterminated by British settlers. In the Flying Foam Massacre on the Burrup Peninsula, your ancestors almost exterminated the local Aboriginal tribe, and now your government has decided to destroy the rock art there as well. You intend to replace the Burrup sacred precinct with a conglomerate of gas processing plants that are to spew out hundreds of millions of tonnes of acidic gases.

The Burrup petroglyph complex is reputed to be the largest in the world. It needs the same protection as other cultural heritage properties of similar significance. Your government is obliged to provide this protection, not only by international treaties and conventions, and indeed in accordance with your own state legislation, but there are also moral grounds. Just as the British would never build a refinery next to Stonehenge, the people of Western Australia deserve that their own greatest heritage site be treated with the same consideration. Moreover, there appears to be no logistic or technical reason why this proposed industrial estate needs to be located in such a sensitive area.

We request that you locate the proposed development at an alternative site, which we understand is available to you, and that you develop a proper management plan for the Burrup Peninsula that guarantees the perpetual protection of the rock art.

Yours sincerely,
Prof. Dr Yu. A. Vedenin
Director
Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr Carol Diaz-Granados
President, Eastern States Rock Art Research Association, U.S.A.

Dear Dr Gallup:

I am writing to you about an issue that greatly concerns us. Our organization is deeply distressed about the integrity and protection of the Burrup Peninsula rock art. Word comes to us that you have been advised to locate a new industry, the Dampier petrochemical plant, in the Burrup Peninsula. This is not only unfortunate, but a travesty on both the rock art as well as the aboriginal people who created it.

Without accusation, without malignment, without reproach, we ask that you please make the right decision to use an alternate site for the location of the proposed industrial plant. We are well aware that there are many other locations where this plant can be built and operate. We also respectfully request that you develop a management plan for the Burrup Peninsula rock art that will assure ongoing protection of this sacred, rare, and endangered cultural property.

Sincerely,
Dr Carol Diaz-Granados
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Dr George Dimitriadis
Scientific Director, HERAC, Greece

Dear Dr Gallop,

Re: Rock art destruction

The Rock art and megalithic arrangements of the Burrup Peninsula are under threat of destruction from your government. This site is as important to the world as Stonehenge or Machu Picchu, its petroglyphs are many thousands of years old. Among them are pictures of thylacines, an animal species exterminated by British settlers. In the Flying Foam Massacre on the Burrup Peninsula, your ancestors almost exterminated the local Aboriginal tribe. And now your government has decided to destroy the rock art there as well. You intend to replace the Burrup sacred precinct with a conglomerate of gas processing plants that are to spew out hundreds of millions of tonnes of acidic gases.

The Burrup petroglyph complex is reputed to be the largest in the world. It needs the same protection as other cultural heritage properties of similar significance. Your government is obliged to provide this protection, not only by international treaties and conventions, and indeed in accordance with your own state legislation, but there are also moral grounds.

Just as the British would never build a refinery next to Stonehenge, the people of Western Australia deserve that their own greatest heritage site be treated with the same consideration. Moreover, there appears to be no logistic or technical reason why this proposed industrial estate needs to be located in such a sensitive area.

We request that you locate the proposed development at an alternative site, which we understand is available to you, and that you develop a proper management plan for the Burrup Peninsula that guarantees the perpetual protection of the rock art.

Yours sincerely,
Dr George Dimitriadis
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr Thomas Heyd, Profesor of Philosophy, Canada

Dear Hon. Dr Geoff Gallop, MLA,

I have been a visitor to your country several times, and have had opportunity to admire the diversity of great cultural sites that it has to offer. As professor in philosophy, specialized in Rock Art Aesthetics I have been particularly impressed by the engravings and paintings on rock done by your country’s aboriginal people.

Presently I am writing you to tell you about my dismay upon hearing that the outstanding rock art sites in the Dampier Archipelago in the Pilbara region of north-western Australia are in danger due to industrial development. As far as I understand the situation the danger arises from the plans to develop Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) with petrochemical and other plants, which will increase acid rain, which itself is the cause of the deterioration of the rock art.

Given that between 20% and 25% of the rock art has already been destroyed since the 1960s I urge you to cancel plans to develop the Burrup peninsula. I understand that the development of the petrochemical industry is opposed by numerous stakeholders, including the owners of the rock art, Aboriginal people of the region, and by scientists, conservators, conservationists, and the local Shire Council of Roebourne. Consequently I urge you to locate future development at Maitland on the mainland.

Hoping to hear from you soon about your commitment to protect this important heritage of humanity,

Yours sincerely,
Dr Thomas Heyd
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Wendy Rainbird, member of AURA

Dear Dr Gallop,

I am writing to you with concern for the rock art of Burrup peninsular near Karratha and Dampier. Recently, I had the pleasure of a wonderful trip to the Pilbara, and as I have an interest in Australian History, and have worked on projects on Australia’s ancient history, I had read up about the rock art of the area before arriving.

So I was aware that Burrup contained thousands of petroglyphs; that it is considered one of the richest regions of rock engravings in Australia; that experts have considered it should be World Heritage-listed; and that these engravings have, so far, been dated 6000-10 000 years old. Older than the Egyptian Pyramids!

The Registrar of Aboriginal Sites, Bruce Wright, said in 1980 that there should be completion of site reconnaissance on Burrup; site protection, including legislation; ranger supervision and public education.

From our visits and enquiries, there is no site protection nor public education. Indeed the Karratha Tourist Centre gave no information about the guided tours that we found out about. There appears to be no ranger supervision.

From readings, the destruction of this significant cultural area has continued since 1967 when the site of Dampier was unfortunately chosen as the port for mining and industrial works. It could have been located elsewhere, and the subsequent destruction may not have occurred. A recent survey by Dr Vinnicombe of the WA Museum has stated “that the proposed Maitland Industrial Estate coincides with a remarkably rich Aboriginal cultural heritage and that if development proceeds as currently proposed, a significant part of that heritage will be destroyed.” (Vinnicombe, Rock Art Research 19: 13).

Further, research has found that present industrial complexes on Burrup emit 91 tonnes of volatile gaseous hydrocarbon compounds. In the dry, these emissions deposit on rocks and the art, then in the wet, the concentrated acidic deposits physically erode the surfaces. (Bednarik, in RAR 19: 34). Proposed new industrial complexes will compound this destruction.

The world was shocked at the Taliban vandalism when they destroyed the great, old Buddha statues. I hope the present Western Australian Government will take serious action to avert the destruction of the culturally rich, ancient, yet still living in Aboriginal knowledge, rock art heritage of Burrup.

Sincerely,
Wendy Rainbird
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Emeritus Professor Sylvia J. Hallam
Letter to the Editor
The West Australian
Dear Sir,

Your reporter, Yonnene Pearce, reports the State Government's decision to set up a four-year study into the effects of industrial emissions on the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula.

Your readers should not be left under the illusion that this represents a triumph for the world heritage values involved.

All present or foreseeable methods of sequencing and dating the antiquity of rock art depend on detailed examination of the surfaces altered by engraving, and close microscopic examination of subsequent material deposited on those surfaces over the millennia. All of this can be altered or removed by industrial emissions. These may affect the entire peninsula, including the areas of what seems likely to prove to be the oldest and rarest art. The possibility of adequate study may be gone for ever if development proceeds as planned. The likely effects are discussed in technical detail in an article by Robert Bednarik, just published in the latest number of the international journal Rock Art Research.

I would be prepared to lay a very large bet that there is very little art in Australia, or indeed the world, which will prove to be of an antiquity comparable to that in some of the Burrup valleys. It is possible that I and other similarly impressed prehistorians could be proved wrong. But I want the art to remain there, unaffected by fumes, until it is possible to settle the question one way or the other!

The art of the Burrup Peninsula is certainly among the oldest, most varied, and most densely distributed in the world, and it is thus a heritage which we must guard not only for Western Australia but for the world.

The Burrup Peninsula represents an amazing range of art, from ancient to recent, spectacular to mediocre. We should aim to retain that total range.

Yours sincerely,
Sylvia J. Hallam
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Retired Professor of Prehistory, University of Western Australia
25 July 2002
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Robert G. Bednarik
President of IFRAO

12 April 2002
The Honourable Alan Carpenter MLA
Minister for Indigenous Affairs
W.A. Ministry for Education, Sport and Recreation, Indigenous Affairs
12th Floor, Dumas House
2 Havelock Street
West Perth, W.A. 6005

Dear Mr Carpenter,

We thank you for your response dated 20 March 2002 (your Ref. No. 35220) regarding the Burrup Peninsula rock art, and for your detailed answers. We regret having to advise that your response does not meet our hopes and expectations. To be more specific, we identify the following issues of concern:

a. You indicate the distinct likelihood that there will be more relocation of rock art and the destruction of sites this inevitably engenders. We believe that there are many prospective clashes between the proposed siting of industrial installations and existing rock art concentrations.

b. You confirm that there is no existing general management plan for the Dampier Archipelago, and that the entire process of environmental impact assessment will be proponent driven. This has been the practice for the past four decades and the Ministry has in the past essentially abrogated its legislative obligation concerning the protection of the rock art (cf. Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972), leaving it to the developers to decide the future of Burrup rock art. You indicate that this will be done under the nominal supervision of another department, the Department of Environmental Protection.

If we combine these two main points you make in your letter, it becomes evident that the developers will have a free hand in deciding the future of any rock art on their present and future leases. We remind you that three areas of the peninsula were declared Protected Areas under the Aboriginal Heritage Act in 1984, which are also listed on the Register of the National Estate, with meritorious comments from representatives of the Joint Academies Commission. While the previous salvage operations in the 1980s were in progress, the Minister for Mines created Temporary Reserve 6697H over Crown Land outside the existing industrial leases on the Dampier Peninsula (Burrup) in order to provide for the 'orderly industrial development of the Peninsula'.

The numerous attempts to initiate a cohesive management plan (consider the Woodside 1980-81 study, the CALM survey approved by Cabinet in 1987 and then rescinded, the botched Pilbara 21 Study of 1992, the Maitland surveys of 1994 an 1997) have all led to nothing. The developers have no authority outside their leases, while the Roebourne Shire Council has no vesting control, no management control and no funds. Your Ministry has responsibility for all of the rock art, which according to your letter it will continue to delegate to other government departments and, primarily, to the companies operating on the peninsula, or aspiring to do so.

We have three types of land uses in the Archipelago: land occupied by developers for some years, land to be occupied according to current expansion plans, and the remaining land (62%). Concerning the last area, your office contributes nothing to the protection or management of the rock art. In forty years of development in the area, it has never found it appropriate to conduct a study of the deterioration due to atmospheric fallout and lowering of ambient pH. Studies of the type routinely conducted elsewhere in Australia, and of course in most developed and many developing countries, have never been attempted on the Burrup by any government agency. Such a study has been conducted privately since 1967 and its scientific results are to be published next month. Moreover, there is no physical protection of any rock art outside of leased areas, there is no physical monitoring, there are no rangers—in short, there is no effective protection.

In areas subject to current or projected leases, the physical protection is entirely left to the respective developers. While this has worked quite satisfactorily in one case (Dampier Salt), the performance of the remaining developers in terms of their impact on rock art has been abysmal. This is not intended to be a reprimand of the companies concerned, they are neither obliged to meet your responsibilities, nor should they be expected to bring the necessary expertise to the task of managing a cultural resource which your Ministry has consistently declined to manage.

These considerations lead to the conclusion that the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago has no effective protection, and that your predecessors have failed to provide any means of such protection, or to foster the development of any coherent management plan. To see this in perspective it must be appreciated that rock art is successfully managed in all other states of the Commonwealth, and of course in many countries abroad, including many developing countries. Over the years this federation has been involved in rock art conservation issues in many countries, in all continents, and we are most concerned about the situation in Western Australia. We now present the following proposals for your valued consideration:

(1) Rock art loses most of its cultural, aesthetic and scientific value by being removed from its proper site context, therefore we require a guarantee that no further rock art be relocated. (This is important to convey to the developers who have the legal right to know of any impediments to their proposed activities.)

(2) The forty years of inertia on the protection of all Burrup rock art must be resolved by urgently nominating the undeveloped land and sea area of the Dampier Archipelago as a National Park, to be owned by the combined Roebourne Indigenous community and leased to the federal government as a Park. (This would be a first step towards World Heritage nomination; would hand the rock art back to its rightful owners; and would install protection by the presence of rangers, hopefully local Ngaluma people.)

(3) The ongoing culture of consultancies has cost the community millions of dollars and has resulted in no tangible benefits for the rock art. For instance there is not even a proper inventory available. The traditional employment of consultants who have no experience in the management and preservation of rock art is to be discontinued, rock art specialists are to advise on rock art. The government will appoint an independent advisory committee to be composed entirely of honorary and unpaid members (to preserve their independence). This group will liaise between stakeholders and will help produce a management plan that is acceptable to the government agencies, to the developers and to the conservation interests. The recommended composition of this committee is one member each representing environmental interest groups, the Aboriginal custodians, rock art archaeologists, conservation scientists, the Australian Rock Art Research Association and the international research community.

We remind you that IFRAO does have the means and the will to halt major projects threatening rock art, but about 95% of the rock art conservation crises we have attended to throughout the world since 1988 have been resolved most amicably. We are very confident that such a constructive solution can also be found for the Burrup rock art. We wish to avoid at all cost the need to take extreme action, such as we were forced to take in Portugal in 1995. On that occasion, a huge dam project was commenced against our advice, which led to our campaign and to a devastating electoral defeat after the government had spent $200 million on the project we caused it to abandon. The valley the Portuguese government had wanted to inundate was inscribed on the World Heritage list three years later. In the present case it is imperative that the W.A. government advises the prospective developers that there is a realistic possibility that they will incur unforeseen future expenses, for instance by later having to relocate operations to an alternative site. We request that you inform these parties of the likelihood of such future complications.

We are most certainly not opposed to the development of the Pilbara industry, we merely point out that planning was far too precipitous and lacked transparency, with major stakeholders such as ourselves being kept out of the picture. It is not our intention to create difficulties for developers, on the contrary, we wish to prevent them from becoming exposed to unforeseen commercial risks. We are even suggesting that they save expenses by ridding themselves of the unproductive consultancy industry and the spin doctors. Furthermore, we remind you that the present and unsatisfactory situation is not of your making, it was entirely caused by your conservative predecessors. We are therefore keen to constructively work with the new government on salvaging what is left of the Burrup cultural heritage precinct, and on designing a comprehensive management plan for all future. We do not know what this may entail (be it relocation of industry, supervision, pollution reduction, or whatever). Neither does anybody else, because the stakeholders have never been properly involved, nor has any authority ever attempted to formulate such a plan. Clearly this is a matter of the greatest urgency, and the first step must be the notification of the commercial stakeholders, the developers, that the formulation of the management plan has priority over any other development in the Dampier Archipelago.

Please confirm that you, as the Minister responsible for the protection of the Burrup rock art, will urgently notify the various parties contemplating development work on the peninsula that you are reviewing the protection of the Indigenous heritage, most specifically of rock art and stone arrangements, and that your decision may impact upon their development plans.

We thank you for your consideration of these points.

Yours sincerely,
Robert G. Bednarik
President, IFRAO

cc: The Premier of Western Australia
The Minister for the Environment and Heritage
Robin Chapple MLC (Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region)
The President of AURA
The IFRAO-UNESCO Liaison Officer

AURANET

The Homepage of the Australian Rock Art Research Association, Inc. (AURA)

Petition

Please sign the international petition to the Western Australian government to save the Dampier rock art

UNESCO

The UNESCO Declaration concerning the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage

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