The Guardian 31 January, 2007
Protest to save Burrup Aboriginal rock art
Richard Titelius
On January 22 and 25, 2007, Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) held actions outside Woodside Energy’s Perth headquarters on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Milligan Street in Perth to bring to the public’s attention of the decision by the company to build its sprawling gas processing plant in the middle of the extraordinary assemblage of ancient Aboriginal rock art on the Burrup Peninsular in the north west of Western Australia.
The action included members and friends of FARA wearing black t-shirts with large letters spelling out the message, "STAND UP FOR THE BURRUP" on the steps of the Australian energy giant’s headquarters, and handing out leaflets to a curious and often interested public.
The actions came close to the celebration of Australia’s national day and highlight the need to save one of Australia’s internationally renowned cultural and artistic icons which also has a spiritual and religious significance to the local Aboriginal people.
The decision to build the gas processing plant on the Burrup implicates both the state and federal governments. It was the WA Indigenous Affairs Minister Sheila McHale’s decision which allowed for the conditional construction of the Woodside plant to proceed. This was made easier by the federal government as its then Minister WA Senator Ian Campbell had not acted promptly to place the Burrup Rock Art precinct onto the national Heritage List.
There is currently concern that the federal Coalition government may not consider the Burrup Rock Art or other heritage issues a priority as the recent Howard government cabinet reshuffle has given the highly sensitive and visible Environment and Heritage portfolio a new minister from the Eastern States, Malcolm Turnbull. Its focus has been changed with a renaming to Environment and Water.
However, this has not deterred WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewart from pressing Mr Turnbull to turn his mind as soon as possible to placing the Burrup Peninsular on the National Heritage List to protect what is left of the area’s ancient Aboriginal rock art.
FARA spokeswoman Jenny Laker emphasised in a statement that, "The group is not against the gas processing plant being built and the jobs and wealth that it would bring to the region and the country, they would just like the plant to be relocated to an already disturbed site adjacent to Woodside’s existing plant or preferably off the Burrup Peninsular altogether to protect the rock art from the amount of toxic pollution which would be generated from such a plant". Ms Laker added, "BHP Billiton had decided against developing it new gas processing plant on the Burrup Peninsular, citing the Aboriginal Heritage significance of the area and chose instead to establish its plant to the south of the Burrup at the town of Onslow".
The town is also closer to a larger number of offshore gas fields and an area desperately in need of economic development that is less environmentally and culturally sensitive to Aboriginal people as the area is located primarily on vast spinifex plains which contain few Aboriginal artefacts.
Ultimately, these projects are only necessary as the world is still on a voracious non-renewable energy fix which is used to power the wasteful capitalist mode of production and contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions — the driver of global warming.
What is needed is to produce and consume less non-renewable resources and develop renewable energy sources. This will not only protect the cultural and environmental integrity of the Burrup but also that of the entire planet.