TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN SCIENTISTS OVER INDUSTRIAL IMPACT ON MURUJUGA’S SACRED ROCK ART
BY ELIZA KLOSER
The Murujuga Cultural Landscape. Credit: Supplied
In the North West of Western Australia, 40,000 years ago, Indigenous Australians were carving stories, traditions and information onto what is now known as the world's oldest and largest rock art site.
Today, rock art scientists are in a war of words over how much evidence there is to suggest industrial emissions are damaging the sacred rock art.
Murujuga, on the Burrup Peninsula, is an outdoor art gallery with incredible cultural significance containing over a million rock art carvings, or petroglyphs, recently nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Listing.
Woodside’s Pluto plant in site of sacred rock art. Credit: Supplied.
The state government and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) have recently started a $27 million Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program to assess industrial damage further.
Woodside, Yara and Rio Tinto, who all operate on Murujuga, fund the program through the state government.
Project leader and Curtin University Professor Ben Mullins recently told the ABC that his research aims to provide a "definitive answer" to determining the industrial impacts on the rock art.
Professor Mullins indicated that previous scientific research over the last 20 years had no "sound scientific basis".
"The previous work, whoever has done it, either hasn't had the statistical power to make any determination of what's happening or has been purely anecdotal and not of any sound scientific basis," Professor Mullins told the ABC.
UWA Professor of World Rock Art Benjamin Smith has published numerous papers on the impacts of industrial emissions on Murujuga rock art over the previous seven years.
Professor Smith said Professor Mullins' comments were "mud-slinging" against independent researchers and very disappointing.
"What [Professor Mullins] said is almost like climate change denialism," Professor Smith said.
"I have seen from our own experimental work and our own observational work direct evidence that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art.
"I think that there is very strong evidence going back over 20 years, particularly in our new findings, that has been peer-reviewed and published."
Surrounding the rock art at Murujuga are huge industrial developments that first came into the area in the 1960s and have been expanding ever since.
Scientific research has been conducted for the past 20 years, with independent peer-reviewed science showing varying degrees of evidence that industrial emissions are damaging the rock art.
Professor Smith said scientists should help each other, as they're all motivated by the same outcome of protecting the Murujuga rock art.
"I don't think [Professor Mullins' comments] are very helpful," he said.
In response to Ngaarda Media’s inquiries, Professor Mullins stated that while Professor Smith’s paper "does not provide conclusive evidence of causation, it provides avenues of investigation that are captured in our study design."
"We appreciate the prior and concurrent research of others and, where possible, include their data in our analyses in order to develop the most comprehensive study that will provide definitive answers about impacts on the Murujuga rock art across the whole cultural landscape, to ensure it is protected for future generations," Professor Mullins said in a statement.
Professor Smith wants the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Project team to draw their conclusions as soon as possible.
"I'm absolutely confident that the Mullins team will produce the same result [as others have] in five years' time," he said.
A goanna engraving at Murujuga. Credit: Supplied
"We could carry on collecting evidence for decades and decades. That's the nature of science, but there's a certain point where you have to make that key decision where you say, 'We now have enough evidence to be able to make an important statement.'
"I believe we've already reached that level, and I would encourage Mullins and his team to move to that point as quickly as possible, where we do speak about the real impact."
The government formed the Murujuga Monitoring Program with Indigenous rangers from MAC, and Professor Smith said it is "absolutely the right thing to do".
Professor Smith said it is good to have an independent team as well as a government team to keep the industry-funded project honest and transparent.
"It's to make sure that the government team does report exactly what it is that it finds and that you've got an independent check, and I think that's the great value of our research," he said.
"We will be looking with fascination at what they produce as well. We want to see that evidence published.
"We want to see it made available as quickly as possible because it affects further industrial decisions on that landscape if they're trying to hold up."