Register      Login
Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Protecting past, present and progress: the reality of coexistence with National and World Heritage properties

Daniel Thomas
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Woodside Energy Ltd, The Quarter, Level 3, 24 Sharpe Avenue, Karratha, WA 6714, Australia. Email: daniel.thomas@woodside.com.au

The APPEA Journal 60(2) 544-547 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19136
Accepted: 12 March 2020   Published: 15 May 2020

Abstract

Murujuga, also known as the Dampier Archipelago, is a highly significant cultural landscape rich in Aboriginal cultural heritage, particularly rock engravings known as petroglyphs. In 2007, part of this landscape was included on the National Heritage List, and in 2018 the process towards World Heritage Listing began. Murujuga has also been home to industry for over half a century, including Woodside-operated natural gas processing operations since the 1980s. The effects of development on heritage and the need to mitigate damage are long-standing subjects of discussion internationally. This paper outlines how Woodside seeks to ensure the coexistence of its operations and Murujuga’s cultural landscape, and examines the less frequently considered effects of coexistence on industry, both positive and negative. The largest benefits of coexistence arise from the formalisation and enumeration of heritage values, allowing targeted management with a values-driven approach, stakeholder identification, impact assessment and collaboration. The greatest difficulties arise from regulation, activism and heightened reputational risks, but this paper also identifies certain structures that come with heritage listing that can be used to mitigate these challenges.

Keywords: conservation, cultural heritage, heritage management, Murujuga.

Daniel Thomas is the Senior Corporate Affairs Adviser for heritage matters at Woodside Energy Ltd, Australia’s largest oil and gas company. Daniel is based in Karratha, where he oversees monitoring and protection of nationally and internationally significant Indigenous rock art on Murujuga (also known as the Burrup Peninsula) around its operational facilities. Prior to this role Daniel worked as a consulting archaeologist and heritage consultant on projects in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, including for a variety of oil and gas and mining projects. This history has given Daniel familiarity with the diversity of practice, good and bad, in Australian industry with regard to the protection of cultural sites, as well as the potential benefits and challenges that heritage can bring to a company. Daniel completed a Graduate Diploma in Archaeology at Flinders University in 2011 following a Graduate Certificate and Bachelors degree in the same field. Throughout his subsequent professional career following graduation, Daniel has been involved in the study and preservation of rock art. Daniel is currently in his final year of a Juris Doctor at RMIT University.


References

Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) (2013). The Burra Charter: the Australia ICOMOS charter for places of cultural significance. Available at https://australia.icomos.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Burra-Charter-2013-Adopted-31.10.2013.pdf [verified 23 April 2020].

Commonwealth of Australia and Woodside Energy Ltd (2007). Conservation Agreement between the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia and Woodside Energy Ltd in relation to the National Heritage values of the National Heritage Place Dampier Archipelago (including Burrup Peninsula) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Available at https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/4b63db66-1d8e-4427-91d1-951aff442414/files/ca-woodside.pdf [verified 23 April 2020].

Commonwealth of Australia, Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd and Dampier Salt Ltd (2007). Conservation Agreement between the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia and Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd and Dampier Salt Limited in relation to the National Heritage values of the Dampier Archipelago (including Burrup Peninsula) National Heritage Place under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in relation to Hamersley Land and DSL Land. Available at https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/4b63db66-1d8e-4427-91d1-951aff442414/files/ca-hamersley.pdf [verified 23 April 2020].

Demas, M. (2002). Planning for conservation and management of archaeological sites: a values-based approach. In ‘Management Planning for Archaeological Sites: An International Workshop Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and Loyola Marymount University, Corinth, Greece, 19–22 May 2000’. (Eds J. M. Teutonico and G. Palumbo.) pp. 27–54. (Getty Conservation Institute: Los Angeles.)

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (2019). Murujuga World Heritage nomination. Available at https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/parks-and-wildlife-service/world-heritage-areas/murujuga-world-heritage-nomination [verified 6 January 2020].

Department of Parks and Wildlife (2017). Murujuga National Park. Available at https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/murujuga [verified 2 January 2020].

Duffy, N., Ramanaidou, E., Alexander, D., and Lau, D. (2017). ‘Burrup Peninsula Aboriginal Petroglyphs: Colour Change and Spectral Mineralogy 2004–2016.’ (CSIRO: Perth.)

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) (2007). Pluto LNG development, Burrup Peninsula Woodside Energy Ltd: report and recommendations of the Environmental Protection Authority. EPA, Perth.

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) (2020). Report and recommendations of the Environmental Protection Authority: Scarborough Project – nearshore component. EPA, Perth.

Lau, D., Ramanaidou, E., Furman, S., Cole, I., Hughes, T., and Hoobin, P. (2007). Field studies of rock art appearance: final report: fumigation and dust deposition: progress report: colour change and spectral mineralogy. CSIRO, Perth.

Laurie, V. (2019). Rock art and a hard place: the biggest and oldest collection of rock art in the world lies hard up against a booming resources precinct. Can they really coexist? The Weekend Australian Magazine, 15 March 2019. Available at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/can-industry-and-ancient-rock-art-coexist-on-the-burrup-peninsula/news-story/4e9542130a49334a018e2f72e159cfb8 [verified 10 January 2020].

Mason, R., and Avrami, E. (2002). Heritage values and challenges of conservation planning. In ‘Management Planning for Archaeological Sites: An International Workshop Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and Loyola Marymount University, Corinth, Greece, 19–22 May 2000’. (Eds J. M. Teutonico and G. Palumbo.) pp. 13–26. (Getty Conservation Institute: Los Angeles.)

McDonald, J., Reynen, W., Ditchfield, K., Dortch, J., Leopold, M., Stephenson, B., Whitley, T., Ward, I., and Veth, P. (2018). Murujuga rockshelter: first evidence for Pleistocene occupation on the Burrup Peninsula. Quaternary Science Reviews 193, 266–287.
Murujuga rockshelter: first evidence for Pleistocene occupation on the Burrup Peninsula.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Mulvaney, K. (2018). Murujuga at a crossroads: considering the evidence of nineteenth-century contact, Dampier Archipelago, northwest Australia. Australian Archaeology 84, 248–262.
Murujuga at a crossroads: considering the evidence of nineteenth-century contact, Dampier Archipelago, northwest Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

O’Hara, G. (2008). Monitoring of microbial diversity on rock surfaces of the Burrup Peninsula: final report for the Burrup Rock Art Monitoring Management Committee. Murdoch University, Perth.

Poulios, I. (2010). Moving beyond a values-based approach to heritage conservation. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 12, 170–185.
Moving beyond a values-based approach to heritage conservation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2019). The operational guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris. Available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/ [verified 23 April 2020].

Wahlquist, C. (2018). WA accused of undermining Burrup peninsula’s world heritage listing. The Guardian, 24 April 2018. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/24/wa-accused-of-undermining-burrup-peninsulas-world-heritage-listing [verified 15 January 2020].

Wahlquist, C. (2020). Australia lodges World Heritage submission for 50,000-year-old Burrup Peninsula rock art. The Guardian, 29 January 2020. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/29/australia-lodges-world-heritage-submission-for-50000-year-old-burrup-peninsula-rock-art [verified 2 February 2020].

Ward, I., Larcombe, P., Mulvaney, K., and Fandry, C. (2013). The potential for discovery of new submerged archaeological sites near the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. Quaternary International 308–309, 216–229.
The potential for discovery of new submerged archaeological sites near the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Williams, A. N., Ulm, S., Sapienza, T., Lewis, S., and Turney, C. (2018). Sea-level change and demography during the last glacial termination and early Holocene across the Australian continent. Quaternary Science Reviews 182, 144–154.
Sea-level change and demography during the last glacial termination and early Holocene across the Australian continent.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Woodside (2019a). North West Shelf project extension: environmental review document. Woodside Energy Ltd, Perth.

Woodside (2019b). Scarborough dredging and spoil disposal management plan. Woodside Energy Ltd, Perth.