Professor Smith will address a press conference at WA Parliament House at 12pm TODAY.
What: Benjamin Smith, Professor of Archaeology (World Rock Art), Social Sciences, UWA responds to North West Shelf rock art report
When: 12pm AWST TODAY Tuesday 27 May 2025
Where: WA Parliament, 4 Harvest Tce, West Perth WA 6005
A world renowned rock art professor from the University of Western Australia has declared that the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Report (MRAMP) released by the WA government on Friday afternoon has covered up direct evidence of degradation due to industrial pollution and has wilfully misrepresented the important scientific findings in the report.
Professor Benjamin Smith, the UWA Professor of World Rock Art, made the statement after reviewing the full 800-page report that forms the key piece of evidence in front of federal Environment Minister Murray Watt informing his decision about the North West Shelf extension due this week.
Professor Smith, who has published extensive peer-reviewed research on Murujuga’s rock art, finds that the scientific findings contained in the full MRAMP report show unequivocally the impact of industrial emissions on Murujuga’s rock art, conflicting with the presentation of the research in the executive summary and media release that accompanied the report.
Professor Smith’s review has found that, contrary to this summary, the full MRAMP Report records that levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide are currently at levels that have been proven to cause damage to the rock art.
Industry on Murujuga currently emits about 20,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide per year, making it among the most polluted airsheds in the southern hemisphere. Current pollution levels are far higher today than in the 1970s, yet the report’s executive summary suggests the measured damage to the rock art occurred during this early period.
The MRAMP also records that “there is statistically significant evidence of elevated porosity of granophyre surfaces in an area within the Murujuga region”, which the report acknowledges is most likely caused by industry. Granophyre is the dominant rock type on which the majority of Murujuga’s petroglyphs are engraved.
Not surprisingly, given these findings, the five MRAMP stations nearest to industry are above the recommended EQC pollution levels, marked in the published EQC document by a blue line - yet in the executive summary, that line has been deleted.
Speaking ahead of a press conference at WA Parliament on Tuesday, Professor Smith said:
“We are not in a situation where we are asking ‘Will current levels of pollution damage Murujuga rock art?’. Thanks to the full MRAMP Report, there are now multiple lines of evidence showing that industrial pollution has already degraded the rock art and will continue to do so unless we lower the industrial pollution levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide.
“The MRAMP Report tries to blame emissions from power generation in Dampier during the 1970s and 1980s for causing increased porosity of granophyre rocks, the main rock type displaying petroglyphs. Dampier power generators likely produced about 4,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide per year on average over that period, when industry currently produces 20,000 tonnes per year. If the power plant did some damage, then current damage will be five times worse because current industry produces five times the sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide per year.
“A member of our research team has simulated in laboratory conditions what MRAMP has reported, and this PhD research confirmed that industrial emissions are the cause of the elevated porosity reported by MRAMP. His work also shows the seriousness of the porosity, it is symptomatic of a process causing the rapid disintegration of the rock surface.”
ENDS
Images of Murujuga rock art available upon request.
Contact details:
Friends of Australian Rock Art
[email protected] - 0447 121 378