Murujuga National Park

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The park’s pamphlet suggests that the park contains the “largest concentration of ancient rock art in the world”. I’m no expert but, as a novice finding more than 50 pieces of art in the Deep Gorge section alone – barely a couple of kilometres in a 5,000 hectare park – this would seem to be no idle claim. The art works, including animals, tracks, geometric designs and spirit beings, are not always easy to find. The combination of the angle of the sun, walking direction, haphazard arrangement of the boulders and depth of the engravings can combine to create a “Now you see me, now you don’t” effect. The search is worthwhile: not only to see art that is potentially more than 30,000 years old but also to experience the atmosphere of the gorge. The local aboriginal custodians are said to sing to the spirits to help keep us safe on our walk through the gorge: not all the spirits etched into the rocks are friendly. The singing was successful as I did not perceive any malign emanations and I enjoyed the mood of the gorge and the sounds around me: wind pushing past my ears; buzz of bees around a muddy and insignificant puddle; clinking chink of a dislodged rock giving away the presence of a euro; desiccated rustle of well-dried seeds pods in the gorge trees; and the unfortunate steady man-made thrum from the nearby production plant. Perhaps the most atmospheric moment was when viewing a kangaroo petroglyph only to have a living version bounce into the same field of view. Hopefully the recent creation of this park will provide protection for the ancient rock art that is found throughout the Burrup Peninsula: protection from the density of resource activity that surrounds the art and from the visitors that can be over keen to get close to the art.

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