Understorey: Protecting or Polluting the World’s oldest rock art

The Burrup Peninsula in our North West belongs on the World Heritage register: a million rock carvings engraved in hard stones. Some petroglyphs date back more than 30,000 years, far older than Stonehenge, the pyramids, or the Lascuax cave paintings.  Valued as Murujuga by local Aboriginal people, and a wonder for humanity at large, Burrup is also on the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites list, because of intensifying gas, fertiliser and transport development.  Understorey's Elizabeth PO' asks former deputy divisional chief of CSIRO, Professor John Black, about the science behind acidic erosion from industrial pollution affecting the unique rock engravings; and speaks with former Greens leader Christine Milne, (who knows a thylacine when she sees one - and there are two on a rock in the Burrup!) about why this precious place matters so much for the world.  A briefing in preparation for the Minister for Energy, Josh Frydenberg, when he reconciles his other role as Minister for Environment, with the handing down, almost a year late, of the much anticipated Senate Environment Committee report. (Photo: J. Black, Burrup, 2016) Understorey 20180307 Protect or Pollute