The Peninsular is home to both indigenous rock art like petroglyphs dating back thousands of years and some of Australia’s major industries like Hamersley Iron’s iron ore operations and the North-West Shelf LNG project.

According to Associate Professor Frank Murray, the Chairman of the Burrup Rock Art Monitoring Management Committee, “Concerns about possible effects of current and future industry emissions on the significant rock art collection recently prompted the Western Australian Government to commission a series of monitoring studies.”

“This monitoring program, which is supported by the local Aboriginal communities, will be the most thorough scientific research of impacts on rock art ever undertaken in Australia [and] the studies are aimed at assessing the whether industrial emissions are affecting the natural weathering of the rock surfaces,” he added, referring to the CSIRO’s and the university’s plan to conduct five separate studies to monitor the area.

In a statement the CSIRO said, “A team of CSIRO Exploration and Mining researchers using a visible/infrared spectrometer to accurately record any subtle changes in the surface minerals of the rock art over time [while] scientists from CSIRO’s Division of Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology (CMIT) are recording the differences, over time, in colour between engravings and adjacent undisturbed rock surfaces.”

“CMIT is also conducting accelerated weathering tests of rock samples to assess what changes may be expected over many decades of exposure to industrial emissions. Studies of the micro-organisms that can live on petroglyphs are also underway [and], to establish the origin of air pollutants and dust, CSIRO Atmospheric Research will sample airborne dust, rainwater and gases at seven sites on the Peninsula and more distant control locations.

“Microbiologist, Dr Graham O'Hara from Murdoch University, is looking at the growth of organisms such as bacteria and fungi on the rocks and a comprehensive analysis of atmospheric conditions rounds out the research package,” it added.

The CSIRO is hoping the battery of tesst will enable it to gather the necessary scientific data in order to better save the rock art. The WA Government will consider its options once the work is completed in 2008.

The project is being funded by the WA Departments of Industry and Resources and, Conservation and Land Management.