The Burrup

For as long as the Burrup Peninsula has been known it has been subject to controversy.  The location is also known as Murujuga through indigenous terms, meaning “hip bone sticking out.”

The Burrup is known on a world class level for many reasons;
1) the immense amount of rock carvings (over 1 million) dating back to the last ice age, many depicting images of the Tasmanian Tiger which was unfortunately hunted to extinction in Tasmania, ironically as was the indigenous population.  I have personally seen a hunting licence to shoot a culture.

The Burrup is now listed on the Endangered Places Register as it is also a massive gas plant and claims have been made that some 20 odd percent of the rock art has been destroyed

2)  The Flying Foam massacre, Ive read a couple of versions of this and most authors relate this to genocide, Im not here to argue it, just adding what I have read.
The story goes along the line that about 1868 2 police officers and a workman were killed during confrontation resulting in deaths reportedly ranging from 15 to 150 of the Jaburara people.  Basically it wiped out the majority of the tribe including children leaving bodies floating in the mangroves.
Three Jaburara were arrested and convicted for the deaths being sentenced to death, later being commuted to 12 years servitude on Rottnest Island… personally I would have rather died then going to Rottnest, Its jails are viewable to the public and it would have been a hard place to survive for a month let alone 12 years of disease and hard labor.

Because of the massacre it is a significant factor in controversial native titles by their descendants.

Many other issues have occurred at this site over the last century including the failure of the Oswal group with a massive fertiliser plant.  The Oswal’s eventually retreated from Australia reportedly owning about 186 million in Taxes in less then 5 years.  There are many allegations that funds were siphoned from the company raised by media, but I am in no position to agree or confirm this (only what the media portrays).

A lot of my recent photography has been around the Burrup.  There have been several reasons, mainly because of a massive tidal change but more importantly, its isolated and by human nature, its hard to get to.  Doesnt stop mongrels from leaving beer bottle stubbies at the top though.  I like the fact that its only me and a few Kangaroos and I have a view just to myself.  There are no tracks to get to the top, its all me, climbing and hiking up loose rocks.

Heres a couple of shots from the last week or so.