Subscribe

VIDEO

Video Report: The fight to save Murujuga

History is being destroyed in slow-motion

Wed 28 May 2025 00.00

ClimateEnvironment
BlueskyFacebookLinkednxThread

The Murujuga Rock Art is a unique 40,000-year-old collection of rock engravings on the Dampier Archipelago in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

These irreplaceable petroglyphs are twice as old as France’s Lascaux cave paintings and eight times older than the pyramids. Murujuga is nationally heritage-listed and could soon be recognised by UNESCO for its world heritage value.

But it is facing destruction from acid rain caused by nearby gas processing. Gas processing that does not need to happen at Murujuga.

The new Australian Environment Minister Murray Watt, however, decided to approve a 50-year extension to Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project.

This could have devastating consequences for the rock art.

Featuring:
+ Dr Benjamin Smith, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Western Australia
+ Dr Ken Mulvaney, Archaeologist
+ Raelene Cooper, Mardudhunera Traditional Custodian
+ Esther Joy Montgomery, Aboriginal Elder
+ Tracey Moffatt, Acclaimed Australian Artist Fiona Hall, Acclaimed Australian Artist

A video report presented by Stephen Long, Senior Fellow, and Contributing Editor at the Australia Institute on Ngarluma land.

Cinematography and editing by Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer at the Australia Institute.

Related Articles

WHAT'S NEW

‘We call it rip it and ship it’: Canadian leaders slam Woodside’s pipeline projects

Canadian Indigenous leaders have warned Australian gas giant Woodside that pipelines in British Columbia (BC) are driving illegal land seizes, violent police raids and the destruction of pristine ecosystems.

Climate
‘We call it rip it and ship it’: Canadian leaders slam Woodside’s pipeline projects

FACTCHECK

Fact check: Is NSW going to have blackouts?

The claim: “Blackout risk: Grid ‘not ready’ for coal plant closures, solar surge”

Climate

OPINION

Waste incinerators: the latest bin fire in Australian climate policy

Something has gone terribly wrong with a society and an economy that sees a steady and inexhaustible flow of garbage as a reliable fuel for generating electricity. But here we are.

Climate

OPINION

Why fossil fuel influence in children's education is a democratic problem, not just a climate problem

Australia’s children deserve the truth about climate change. They deserve to learn science that is free from corporate spin, especially when it comes to industries driving the crisis that will shape the rest of their lives.

Climate
Why fossil fuel influence in children's education is a democratic problem, not just a climate problem