Murujuga Elders and Traditional Custodians will attend WA Parliament this morning to deliver an open letter to the WA government and later meet with Woodside representatives to request an immediate pause on all industrial development on Murujuga (the Burrup Peninsula) until adequate consultation occurs.
The letter to the WA government and Woodside shareholders is signed by more than two dozen custodians of Murujuga, including Elders, cultural advisors and the current and former chairperson of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC). MAC represents the five language groups with custodianship of the Burrup Peninsula – also known as Murujuga – where big polluters, heavy industry and globally significant cultural heritage sites coexist precariously.
A delegation of signatories will meet MPs this morning to present their concerns about inadequate industry consultation due to a ‘gag clause’ in the Burrup and Maitland Estates Industrial Agreement (BMIEA), created by the WA state government in 2003.
The letter (attached and available here) explains that Murujuga is home to ancient songlines and more than one million sacred rock carvings that Traditional Custodians have a responsibility to protect.
“Woodside’s gas developments on Murujuga have already destroyed or damaged many sacred sites and thousands of ancient rock carvings left by our ancestors,” the letter reads, in part. “Today, these projects continue to release pollution which is damaging the rock art.”
The letter goes on to explain that past attempts of Traditional Custodians to speak out about these developments were prevented by gag clauses placed on them by state government agreements while their “sacred lands were forcibly acquired.”
The traditional custodians of Murujuga, which is nominated for UNESCO world heritage listing, state that “the Scarborough development continues this past injustice, and will further damage our environment and cultural heritage.”
The letter concludes with requests to Woodside investors, shareholders and commercial partners to withhold further investment in the planned Scarborough gas project for as long as Murujuga Traditional Owners are prevented from speaking out, and denied access to the necessary information to make informed decisions about their country.
The letter finally calls on the WA government and Premier Mark McGowan – who has publicly backed Woodside and the Scarborough proposal – to immediately remove gag clauses in state agreements and ensure independent funding for the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation rather than forcing them to rely on industry.
The letter requests the government pause any further approvals for Scarborough and the related Perdaman project until proper consultation can occur.
Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera traditional custodian and former chairperson of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, is a signatory to the letter. She said:
“We as traditional custodians have not been consulted and we do not consent to the Scarborough project or the Perdaman plant that will disrupt sacred sites. I am deeply concerned that Woodside and the State Government are proceeding without fully understanding the risks to our environment and culture. Traditional custodians are distressed that we have been denied opportunities to understand and consider these impacts.
“When our old people signed the BMIEA agreement 20 years ago, they did not know or understand what they were signing. They were put in a horrible position and Woodside and the state government should be ashamed of themselves. How do they sleep at night knowing they allowed this to happen to our old people, to the elders of our community? The BMIEA is null and void because it was deceitful and they didn’t explain it to them.
“The state government needs to come to the table on this. We don’t want to negotiate Scarborough at all – this project is null and void. Our human rights state that we as ngurrara people have every right to salvage, resource, maintain, promote and preserve our ngurra. We are here as ngurrara people to take care as guardians of the land and the government won’t even listen to us. Today we demand that they allow us to speak at last.
Patrick Churnside, a Ngarluma traditional custodian and the former cultural advisor to Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, who also signed the letter, said: “Four months on from the Juukan Gorge Inquiry the removal of gag clauses from all agreements should be adhered to and acted on. If you look, and listen and learn, the country will show you. I think it’s highlighting the need to change that agreement. The wellbeing of our songlines and dreaming and stories is dependent on this country. We have an obligation to our country, our people and our culture.”
“When we come to country and talk about country and the songs we sing it’s not for self, it’s for all and everyone. That’s something the leaders and people who make decisions for others need to consider. First and foremost, the government need to consider the decision making process. We are obliged and pressured into some of these decisions. When they say agreements, what does that agreement mean? A piece of paper in your hand? Or an agreement with the songs and with the land and with ceremony? Where’s the agreement to the rock art?”
“When it comes to the heritage and the culture there are concerns that have not been heard and voices they have not listened to. We need to have an open dialogue and transparency about some of the things you do on country. If Woodside says in one sense they want to protect the environment then they need to listen to the old people, they need to listen to the custodians, they need to listen to the country. The science, the environment, the people, the songlines, the stories – all of these things can speak to you, but you must listen. And be honest, and open.”
Benjamin Smith is the Professor of World Rock Art, University of Western Australia, and will attend the meetings this morning at Parliament. He said:
“Our laboratory experiments show that the Murujuga rock surfaces start to decay as soon as the pH drops below 6.5. The majority of the rocks at Murujuga now sit at a pH of below 6 at all times except immediately after heavy rain. This means that decay from pollution is already extensive and serious and the surfaces have already started to decay.
“The question under research now is not whether damage is occurring – we know that it is – but how fast. How many decades of pollution at current levels will destroy the rock art? Ongoing research will tell us, but the answer will be in decades not centuries.
“This is the most significant rock art place in the world. There’s more rock art there, it’s older, and it’s got extinct figures and probably the earliest depictions of the human face. The scientific evidence is clear. No additional polluting industry should be allowed on or near Murujuga. Responsible operating practice can reduce pollution to a level where it will not damage the rock art, but intervention cannot wait. Immediate action is needed.”
