"Reputed to be the world’s largest complex of petroglyphs, the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago in Western Australia is under severe threat of destruction through industrial development. About 24.4% of the rock art on the main island, Murujuga (Burrup 'Peninsula') has been destroyed since 1963, and the remainder has been subjected to slow deterioration through acid rain caused by industrial installations immediately adjacent to the rock art.
It faces the establishment of a huge petrochemical complex and escalating acidification of the atmospheric environment. Toxic and greenhouse gas emissions would be trebled, and a scientific study has shown that most of the rock art will disappear in the course of the 21st century. The Western Australian government, which is responsible for the preservation of this huge cultural monument, has completely failed in its duty."
NOTE FROM JEFF: This is HUGE for life as we know her on Mother Earth. The Pilbara is THE most powerful place on the planet in terms of Earth energy and ancient human spiritual connection. Thanks to being in western Australia for 2 out of the last 3 years, I've been able to devote a lot of time doing investigative research into the multi-dimensional scenario unfolding at Murujuga, a peninsula near Karratha that is home to over one million petroglyphs, more than anywhere else in the world, and dated as old as 65,000 years. This area is the locus of humanity's oldest and longest-standing connections with the forces of life herself. This area may in fact be where life originated on Earth; new evidence points both to extraterrestrial origin via comet, meteor or planetesimal impact, and/or origin in Archaean hot-springs. In addition to having some of the oldest rocks found on Earth, and having an iron ore deposit of singular purity, one of the largest on the planet, and many sacred springs/water-holes believed to be the homes or dwelling places of dream-time beings like the Rainbow Serpent, right on top of all this is the largest concentration of industrial facilities in the southern hemisphere, as if the UK government allowed huge factories to be built right next to Stonehenge. This area is also the site of the only massacre of aboriginal people in which every member of an entire 'tribe' or nation was murdered, the Yaburarra.
AUSTRAL WHALE ANOMALY TRANMISSION' (2020-21)
The issues at hand are the expansion of these facilities, accelerating damage to rock-art from chemical emissions, as well as the blatant corruption of the government of WA.Beginning with my dear friend Robert Bednarik in Melbourne in 2023, who is probably the top rock-art authority on the planet, I went on to seek out, communicate with, learn from, and interview people from several areas: Traditional Owners/Traditional Custodians; 'big energy' people and their PR teams; archaeologists; geologists; engineers working on construction projects; friends who work in mining in WA; government officials; media personnel; 'protest' organization activists, and local residents.Telling this story and its significance for life on Earth is a huge project I am currently working on. For the time being check out what is happening there right now.Every act of destruction and desecration at an extremely sacred and sensitive 'power spot' or 'trigger point' on Mother Earth is driving yet another nail into the coffin of homo sapiens.'Sacred Stones' Brilliant 2007 doco from 9NewsMelbourne featuring world rock-art authority and original protector/researcher of Murujuga Robert Bednarik, as well as then WA premiere Colin Barnett who, under Bednarik's guidance, made Murujuga into a National Park under the control of indigenous people.
Produced by Mick O'Donnell.
WATCH 'SACRED STONES' https://vimeo.com/844449448PASSWORD: SacredStones2023MY LATEST INTERVIEWS WITH ROBERT BEDNARIK (MAY 2023)
ON THE BRINK RADIO ROBERT BEDNARIK (2017)
I first met Robert Bednarik in 2002 and recognize him as perhaps the world's pre-eminent rock art researcher, although he describes his primary 'avocation' as epistemologist rather than archaeologist; he is a master of the accurate dating of rock-art, but ironically seldom ventures even a guess as to what they may 'mean.' Polymath, auto-didact, disdainful non-academician, highly independent scholar and rock-art advisor to a wide spectrum of international leaders and nobility, Bednarik came to Australia from Austria in 1967 to investigate stone tools of the Kimberley. He never left, and thus began a profound journey of inquisitive exploration of the roots of human knowledge and research into who we are and how we have become the way we are. Based in Melbourne, Robert cites several indigenous elders of the Pilbarra region of western Australia as his only real teachers, somewhat but not totally tongue-in-cheek. In this interview we discuss a broad range of topics beginning with 'Piltdown man' and other hoaxes and blunders contributing to archaeology being the 'least exact of sciences.'
Bednarik almost single-handedly stopped the Woodside Petroleum project on the Dampier archipelago, home of the greatest concentration of rock on the planet, and convinced WA premier Colin Barnett to create a national park there staffed only by local indigenous people and to have all the rock-art that had been 'forcibly removed' to facilities in France to be returned. Unbelievably, as of last year, all of this had actually come to pass. At this time he is involved in multiple writing and research projects, becoming licensed to use an x-ray fluoroscopy device, and preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia, where he inspired the 'sheikocracy' to recognize, value and protect their immense rock-art gift. On Bednarik's recommendation they have fenced off all major rock-art sites, with guards, and are constructing a network of access roads to facilitate what will be the first 'eco-tourism' industry in a predominantly Muslim country. Robert also has the magnanimity to give interviews with the occasional hippy-freak investigative journalist and rock-painter passing through.
Robert is the author of countless research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, dozens of books, has appeared in several dozen films and documentaries, and is the founder and director of IFRAO, the International Federation of Rock Art Researchers.
www.ifrao.com/robert-g-bednarik/
When he is not too busy doing all this, he does things like constructing bamboo rafts and sailing them between Indonesian islands...to prove that homo erectus could have done it!
FIRST MARINERS PROJECT
www.ifrao/the-first-mariners-project/
THYLACINE
"Murujuga is a place of worship. Our rock art tells our stories; it is our Bible. We practise and continue to follow our cultural protocols, passing down knowledge of Lore and culture. As custodians we are entrusted to carry on our traditional customs.
We are joining together to stop new industry on the Burrup from damaging our Songlines, our rock art, our health and our climate. We oppose planned expansion of Burrup Hub industry by Woodside, Perdaman and Yara."
https://www.saveoursonglines.
org/
TRADITIONAL OWNERS TAKING ON 'BIG ENERGY' https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mX3rDMrQxr8
"Jessica Border, a young lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office in Perth, said in an emergency court filing in September that her client, Indigenous leader Raelene Cooper, was a custodian of the Whale Dreaming, an Aboriginal story sung or chanted and known as a song-line.
The Whale Dreaming states that Burrup Peninsula whales connect places, people and animals to each other, creating migratory patterns for animals and telling them when to eat and reproduce, according to the filing. It contains an 'energy line' that passes through Woodside’s gas titles.
'The whale creates a path for the other animals like ‘grading a road’,' she wrote. 'Song-lines are essential to the survival of human beings and the ngurra or Mother Earth.'
A lawyer for the gas company, in a response filed in court, said: 'Until the filing of Ms Border’s affidavit, Woodside had not previously been aware of the asserted existence of the Whale Dreaming within Murujuga [an area offshore the peninsula] or of the applicant’s carriage of a Whale song-line.' "
https://www.abc.net.au/news/
"A long awaited scientific report suggests industrial emissions have damaged rocks in a globally significant ancient WA rock art gallery – though the damage occurred in decades when pollution was higher than current levels.
The report into the Indigenous heritage site of Murujuga, on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s north-west – near gas giant Woodside’s proposed expanded operations – sought to address years of scientific uncertainty over whether years of industrial pollution on the peninsula has affected the site, the subject of a World Heritage bid."
The report co-produced with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation also found that key air pollutants had dropped since 2014 and that there was no evidence acid rain or deposition was damaging the rock art.
NOTE FROM JEFF: THIS IS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE.
Only hours before on Friday morning, Murujuga traditional owner Raelene Cooper had launched a fresh Federal Court challenge to the proposed long-term expansion of the Karratha gas plant.
The Mardathoonera woman is attempting to compel new Environment Minister Murray Watt to decide on a request she made in 2022 (to his predecessor Tanya Plibersek) to invoke federal ministerial power to intervene in projects that threaten significant Aboriginal cultural heritage.
“The real headline of the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Report is that it confirms there has been damage.
“The government has sat on this report for six months and then tried to play down this very significant finding.
.jpg)
