Community protests industrial project threatening ancient rock art
A billboard has been erected by a rural community to raise awareness about the threats facing ancient rock art in Australia from industrial projects, urging action from politicians.
Supporters of a rural community fighting a heavy industrial project have erected a massive billboard near the homes of two inner-city-based Australian politicians. They hope to get the attention of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek when they travel home to their safe electorates of Grayndler and Sydney with a message urging them to protect ancient art on Australia's remote northwest coast.
The 19-metre-long billboard features the faces of both politicians next to images of the Earth's oldest and largest collection of rock paintings, which scientific evidence suggests is being rapidly eroded by acidic emissions. It carries a message from Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) accusing Labor of "risking" the World Heritage-nominated site if pollution around the site is not curtailed.
"Voters in the east of Australia need to know what's happening to the Murujuga rock art. Most of them won't know where it is, but everyone needs to know how it's threatened," FARA Co-convenor Judith Hugo told Yahoo News.
Tanya Plibersek has already approved a $6 billion fertiliser plant close to the rock art at Western Australia's Burrup Hub, which resulted in the removal of cultural items significant to the Murujuga people. FARA is now hoping she blocks a controversial plan by energy giant Woodside to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas hub at Karratha through to 2070, which it warns could "spell doom and destruction" of the rock art. A decision is expected by February 28.
Some of the rock art is estimated to date back over 40,000 years, and it is thought to contain over a million rock art petroglyphs, many of which are yet to be documented.
A 2025 report by FARA into the impact of emissions found the rock surface on most monitored sites was 100 to 1,000 times more acidic than background levels. "Independent laboratory tests have shown that these acid levels cause irreversible damage to the thin outer layer of the rocks at Murujuga and will eventually destroy the ancient images carved into this surface patina," the report warned.
Woodside already has extensive operations around the Burrup Hub. When Yahoo News first broached the issue with Woodside in 2022, the company said historical industrial development had caused damage to cultural sites and claimed its approach had "matured" during 40 years of operations there. It threw its support behind a plan to nominate the area as a UNESCO World Heritage site and said it has a "world-best-practice program" to monitor the area.
In 2022, two Murujuga women took their concerns about damage to their cultural sites to the United Nations in Geneva, accusing Australia of "cultural genocide".
On Wednesday, FARA joined Traditional Owners and Custodians, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Save Our Songlines and the Conservation Council in Parliament House where they're understood to have met with a dozen MPs including Labor backbenchers, Greens and the Teals.
Co-hosted by Curtin MP Kate Chaney, the plan was to give MPs a chance to hear about the Aboriginal experience of living close to Woodside's gas plant and their concerns about its extension. They were also briefed on long-term research into the deterioration of rock art, which was linked to pollution from ongoing industry.
