Dampier rock art precinct listed by WMF

Robert G. Bednarik auraweb@hotmail.com

25 September 2003

WA government blacklisted as heritage vandals

The international peak body monitoring the performance of all governments in heritage management competence, the World Monuments Fund, has just released its black list, called the “List of the 100 Most Threatened Monuments”, for 2004 and 2005. For the first time, an Australian monument is listed as one of the most severely threatened in the world, and there was absolutely no need for this disgrace. The property in question, the rock art precinct at Dampier, is not being destroyed because of some economic reason, because of war, or because of natural disaster, it is being destroyed because the Premier, Dr Gallop, refuses to locate the planned massive industrial development at Maitland Estate or some other suitable alternative site.

The Dampier Archipelago contains no resource of any description, no ores, no gas, no oil. The petrochemical industry can be established at virtually any location, yet Dr Gallop insists that it will be built on the world’s largest concentration of ancient rock carvings, which is also Australia’s greatest heritage complex. For this, he has now attracted the ire of the world’s watchdog and independent arbiter. Australia, a country renowned for its impeccable record in heritage management, has suddenly become an international pariah in this field, purely because of one state government’s incompetence.

Western Australian State Opposition Leader, Colin Barnett, has unambiguously rejected Gallop’s industrial expansion on Burrup Peninsula, stating: “The rock art is the most significant heritage issue this state has ever faced, and probably Australia. The corporate entities are not going to want to be seen in conflict with the rock art. If I were the premier, I would be moving immediately on developing Maitland”. He has the support of the remaining political parties in this, of the environmental movement, of ICOMOS, and now of world opinion.

The President of the International Federation of Rock Art Organisations, Robert Bednarik, is very critical of the government’s intractability over Burrup: “Dr Gallop, Australians will not appreciate their nation becoming an international basket case in matters of heritage because of your callousness. Moreover, Western Australians don’t wish to be perceived as the kind of people that destroy their State’s greatest cultural asset for no reason at all. They should not have to wait to dump you at the next election. For the sake of our international reputation, please go now. You have disgraced the nation.”

The Maitland Heavy Industrial Estate was chosen by the previous government in 1996, but the present government has consistently refused to occupy the site, insisting instead that it will use every square metre of suitable land at Dampier. The Dampier Archipelago, one of Australia’s most stunning sceneries, contains also the nation’s largest collection of ancient megalithic structures, as well as a rock art corpus unequalled anywhere in the world in size and quality. The heritage value of the precinct exceeds that of properties such as Stonehenge in England, yet the state government refuses to declare it a National Park. Dr David Kemp, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment, favours its nomination to the World Heritage List, but Dr Gallop is determined to destroy this incredible asset even if it costs him his office. In 1868, the creators of this monument, the Yaburara, were almost entirely exterminated by police in a series of massacres that lasted three months. Police records suggest that only six men survived the genocide, there is no mention of female survivors or children. Today, the Premier of WA deliberately destroys the irreplaceable patrimony of the Yaburara, with a single-mindedness that defies all rational explanation. He wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of public money for infrastructure on Burrup Peninsula, while the development of the Maitland Estate, according to an independent consultant, would only cost a fraction of this, and is in any case necessary once the industries run out of room on the Burrup.

“Not only is Dr Gallop now one of the world’s foremost vandals of humanity’s heritage”, said Mr Bednarik, “he is also vandalising Labor’s chances of re-election in 2005. No thinking WA voter would want to support this autocratic politician who so casually destroys the international reputation of this great country. He has become a serious liability for his party, as well as for Australia.”

Robert G. Bednarik
President and Convener of IFRAO, Tel./Fax (03) 9523 0549

World Monuments Fund

Brief description of the WMF

Save the Dampier rock art

Back to the home-page of the Save the Dampier Rock Art campaign

AURANET

Back to AURANET, the home-page of the Australian Rock Art Research Association, Inc. (AURA)

EPA emissions report

January 2004 report on the NOx emissions at Dampier, by the Environmental Protection Authority

World Monuments Fund

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