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The Dampier Archipelago – Between a Rock and a Hard Place
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The Burrup Peninsula formerly Dampier Island is one of the 47 islands that make up the Dampier Archipelago. The Burrup and the islands house what is considered to be the largest and possibly the oldest gallery of petroglyphs (rock engravings) anywhere in the world. Already the West Australian government and Industry have destroyed 10,000 of these archaic carvings and now they want to destroy more. Enough is enough!!!
The Dampier Archipelago is located off the northwest coast of Western Australia, in the Pilbara, about 12 km to the north-west of the township of Karratha.
The Burrup, an artificial peninsula, previously called Dampier Island, is the largest of the islands. It was connected to the mainland in the mid-1960s and is a 117 sq km assemblage of huge granophyre (granite) rock boulder hills interspaced with meandering valleys.
The engravings, dating back some 6000 – 40,000 years, are scattered through these piles of granophyre and gabbro boulders. There are several types of images, those that are scratched through the surface patina and those that penetrate the rock. French archaeologist Michel Lorblanchet in 1980’s suggested that there were possibly 500,000 petroglyphs on the Burrup alone.
This mix of styles and engravings in one location makes this site globally unique. This is a site which provides an incredible scientific insight into Australia’s early fauna and humankind’s global prehistory.
The International Federation of Rock Art Organisations considers the precinct to be the largest and most valued petroglyph site in the World. Lorblanchet regarded Kakadu and Burrup as the most impressive clusters of art he had ever seen, despite his close acquaintance with the art of the Pyrenees and the Dordogne, including the caves at Lascaux.
In 2004 the New York based World Monuments Fund placed the Dampier Rock Art Complex on its list of the 100 Most Endangered Places in the World where it still remains today. This was the first and only site in Australia to be named on this list of offending nations.
The site was nominated to the National Heritage list by three independent parties in 2004. After receipt of advice in August from the new Australian Heritage Council that virtually the whole of the archipelago should be listed Senator Campbell has sought to do is to put off his decision making until February next year by calling for a further 40 days of public comment, giving him a further 60 days to deliberate on those submissions.
This site represents a clash of the Titans with biodiversity, cultural heritage and humankind’s prehistory on one side and the West Australian Department of Industry and Resources the key WA Government department promoting the destruction of the heritage values of the Burrup Peninsula on the other.
Industry cannot get of lightly either. Currently Woodside Energy is proposing to use Holden Point one of the most densely carved areas of the Burrup for its new Pluto LNG Project.
Whilst Holden Point is a pristine undisturbed site with thousands of petroglyphs, next door Woodside, BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Shell, and MIMI (a joint Mitsubishi/Mitsui Company) have a suitable piece of land for development on which all the rock art has unfortunately already been destroyed or relocated.
It is abysmal that in this day and age these supposedly respected multinationals will not consider their responsibility to the heritage values of the Burrup and allow one of their own partners to use this disturbed land just because of corporate rivalry and fiscal interest.
The Dampier Archipelago, the “Dampier Rock Art Precinct”, is currently being considered for inclusion onto the National Heritage list by Senator Campbell the Federal Environment and Heritage Minister. The date by which all such comments are to be made is 28 November 2006.
Further reading, information and updates are available at:
http://www.burrup.org.au/
http://www.dampierrockart.net/
http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/dampier/web/index.html
http://www.mp.wa.gov.au/colinbarnett
http://www.peterandren.com/
http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au
http://www.deh.gov.au/cgi-bin/epbc/heritage_ap.pl?list=NHL&name=asstcom&
For more information, please contact:
Techa Beaumont
Executive Director
Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406
Created: 07 Nov 2006 | Last updated: 07 Nov 2006
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