MURUJUGA WORLD HERITAGE APPLICATION ENCOUNTERS 'CHALLENGES' OVER BOUNDARY ISSUES

Murujuga is home to a collection of ancient petroglyphs. Credit: Gerard Mazza.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has admitted there have been “challenges” around the World Heritage Listing for the sacred Pilbara area of Murujuga on the Burrup Peninsula.

The Australian reported today that UNESCO deemed the federal government’s application for World Heritage Listing incomplete because of problems with boundaries and topography on the map submitted.

A revised map has now been submitted, but the application may not be considered by UNESCO until next year, according to The Australian’s report.

The newspaper said the exact status of the nomination is currently unknown.

In a speech today at the Murujuga World Heritage Symposium as part of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) conference in Sydney, Ms Plibersek said there was a need for the international community, heritage bodies and the Australian government to “adapt our thinking, to be more flexible in our processes, to value different ways of being.”

She said “lines of Indigenous cultural history haven’t always sat comfortably on western maps” and “models of Indigenous knowledge haven’t always flowed easily through western minds.”

“That has made the World Heritage process difficult for many Indigenous people, including our First Nations here in Australia.

“If you look at the Murujuga dossier, it’s not a simple piece of work.”

“It contains over three hundred pages of information.”

“And it has a difficult job – of translating these Indigenous concepts to a set of criteria that emerged from a completely different cultural tradition.”

Representatives of Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) have travelled to the ICOMOS conference.

MAC Chairperson Peter Hicks said in a statement: “An important thing to us about the World Heritage nomination is that it has been driven by Ngarda-Ngarli and reflects our drive to care for country by having Ngarda-Ngarli decision-making and governance at the heart of management of Murujuga.

“Murujuga has worldwide fame for its petroglyphs (rock art engravings), of which there are estimated to be 1 to 2 million motifs. “Yet just as important to Aboriginal people are Murujuga’s living cultural traditions, which have sustained Ngarda-Ngarli through 50,000 years or more of human occupation, including through periods of great environmental change and sea level rise, and which guide us how to be today.

“Our Elders want to share their stories and knowledge of Murujuga because they decided that the best way to protect culture is to share it – this event seems a great opportunity to do so.”