From Western Australia to the world, two Aboriginal women have addressed the United Nations in an attempt to save ancient rock art.
Mardudhunera women Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec appeared before the UN's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples this week.
The pair have been fighting to stop Woodside's Scarborough gas project which could see the destruction of sacred 70,000-year-old rock art.
Emu rock art at Murujuga. Source: Save our Songlines
Addressing the UN
Ms Cooper, former board member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, spoke late Tuesday, with Ms Alec taking the stand the following day.
In their addresses, the pair said they'd come to "bring awareness of the destruction and desecration that industry has already, and is intending to, inflict on Murujuga and the sacred rock art there".
"Government and industry have acquired land under duress, creating division and chaos. Industry has removed and destroyed our rock art in another form of cultural genocide," said Ms Cooper.
"This has caused loss of our traditional livelihoods, traditional Indigenous knowledge and our spiritual relationship with the land. There has been displacement and ecological degradation."
Ms Cooper said it was "alarming" how government and industry use "ngaurra" (Mother Earth) to release harmful greenhouse gases and outlined the gender violence intertwined with the issue.
"The cultural integrity and survival of First Nations people, especially Indigenous women, are under direct threat. Our knowledge, practices and heritage have been appropriated and misused. All of this further exposes Indigenous women and girls to gender-based violence and racism," she said.
"Female participation in the heritage surveying and approval process is vital to ensure that women's cultural sites are identified and recorded prior to approvals being considered.
"This has not happened at Murujuga."
Ms Alec acknowledged the gag clauses that are silencing Traditional Owners, which the Juukan Gorge Senate Inquiry called to be removed from industrial agreements.
"The principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent in the UN Declaration is not being upheld - not on the Burrup and not anywhere in Western Australia. This is despite industry claiming that it is 'guided by the UN Declaration in their own policy," she said.
She called for the United Nations to, under the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, hold "the governments of Australia and corporations to account" and move forward on the "World Heritage listing".
Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec at the United Nations. Source: Save our Songlines
The site under threat
Murujuga, also known as Burrup Peninsula, holds over a million petroglyphs and rock art engravings that are estimated to be over 70,000 years old.
The site, which is nominated to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, neighbours the nation's largest gas and fertiliser producers.
Last week, despite advocacy from Traditional Owners, Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority Woodside's North West Shelf project continue operation until 2070.
The EPA recommended that emissions that could potentially damage the nearby rock art be lowered by 40 per cent in the next eight years.
Ms Cooper feels the recommendations weren't good enough, she along with 27 other Traditional Owners penned an open letter to both the WA government and Woodside.
In the letter, Traditional Owners said they had not been "adequately consulted, and do not consent" to the development.
They requested Woodside halt investments into projects in Murujuga that have seen Traditional Owners "gagged from speaking out", and pause further decisions on the project.
They asked the WA government and Premier Mark McGowan to remove gag clauses in state agreements, provide independent funding to Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation to enable independent heritage management, and pause approvals on the pending project.
Woodsite development at Murujuga. Source: Save our Songlines
