Greens MLC for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple, has congratulated the Barnett government on the creation of Murujuga National Park on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha, with a caveat.
“This is the first small step towards World Heritage listing of the Burrup, something I have been campaigning for since 1994,” Mr Chapple said.
“It is of concern however that the area being set aside is only a small portion of the Burrup Peninsula, leaving some 6,400 hectares unprotected and available for industrial development.
“The original proposal in 1990 was for the declaration of the Dampier Archipelago National Park that would have included the Burrup and all 42 adjacent islands. The Murujuga National Park falls far short of that.
“The Premier first made a commitment to protecting the area in 2006, when he acknowledged the age and scale of the rock carvings and referred to the Burrup as ‘probably the most important heritage site in Australia’ and ‘up there with Uluru’.
“The petroglyphs of the Burrup are thought to range from 200 to 30,000 years, making most of them many times older than the pyramids.
“We have a responsibility to the rest of the world to protect and preserve them.
“That includes protecting them from the corrosive effects of carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen emissions from the nearby liquefied natural gas industry and the fertilizer factory. If we don’t act immediately we risk losing them altogether.
“It is also critical that visitor access and the activities of sightseers are managed to avoid the type of damage that occurs all too often on the Burrup. Just last year vandals scraped graffiti into rocks that also displayed an 8,000 year old petroglyph.
“I look forward to reading and commenting on the Management Plan.
“I shall continue to campaign for World Heritage listing for this unique and priceless ecological and archaeological area,” Mr Chapple said.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255