A World Heritage site faces a clash between ancient rock art and industrial expansion

Countries & Cities · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Murujuga National Park in Western Australia holds the world’s highest concentration of ancient petroglyphs. While UNESCO recently granted the site World Heritage status, a bitter dispute has erupted over whether nearby industrial emissions are damaging these irreplaceable engravings, pitting scientific findings against government claims of no ongoing impact.

Located on the Burrup Peninsula, Murujuga National Park was established in 2013 as Western Australia’s 100th national park. It spans 48.51 square kilometers and protects over ten thousand rock engravings created by Aboriginal peoples. In July 2025, UNESCO recognized the broader Murujuga Cultural Landscape—an area covering nearly 100,000 hectares—as a World Heritage Site, underscoring the immense cultural significance of the region.

The site’s preservation has become a flashpoint for controversy involving industrial development. A monitoring program, initiated to assess how air pollution from nearby industry affects the rock art, produced an 800-page report completed in 2024. When this report was made public in August 2025, it was accompanied by a summary document that the lead scientist, Adrian Baddeley, condemned as factually incorrect. Baddeley specifically challenged the summary's claim that pollutant levels were below concern and that industrial activity had no impact on the art, labeling these assertions as false.

The timing of the report's release has intensified public scrutiny. It appeared just one month after the site's World Heritage listing and less than a week before the federal government announced a 40-year license renewal for Woodside’s Burrup Peninsula LNG plant. Despite WA Premier Roger Cook’s insistence that industrial processes have not harmed the rock art, the conflict between scientific monitoring and industrial policy remains unresolved, leaving the future of this ancient gallery in a state of uncertainty.

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