Western Australia Murujuga Rock Art Gains UNESCO World Heritage Status

The Murujuga Cultural Landscape in Western Australia, home to the world's largest and most diverse collection of rock art petroglyphs dating back over 45,000 years, has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site following decades of campaigning by Indigenous leaders. The site, managed by the Ngarda-Ngarli people and containing nearly two million carvings depicting animals, plants, and humans, is recognized as an extraordinary cultural landscape of global significance. Despite the inscription, concerns remain about ongoing industrial threats, including polluting gas and fertilizer plants that could damage the rock art, a point raised by traditional custodians and environmental groups. The Australian government, led by Environment Minister Murray Watt, actively lobbied at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Paris to secure the listing despite earlier recommendations from UNESCO advisors to withhold approval due to vulnerability to industrial emissions. An amendment supported by several committee members ultimately led to the immediate inscription, overruling previous concerns about environmental impacts. The decision marks Murujuga as Australia's 21st World Heritage site, joining iconic locations like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru.