World Heritage Identification Number: 1709
World Heritage since: 2025
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Cultural Landscapes
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇦🇺 Australia
Continent: Oceania
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Murujuga Cultural Landscape: A Testament to Australia's Ancient Heritage
The Murujuga Cultural Landscape, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025, offers a remarkable glimpse into the rich cultural history of Australia's indigenous peoples. This significant site encompasses the Burrup Peninsula, the Dampier Archipelago's 42 islands, islets and rocky outcrops, and adjacent marine areas and submerged landscapes. It reflects the enduring connection between the land, sea and the Ngarda-Ngarli, the Traditional Owners and Custodians whose cultural traditions and responsibilities have shaped this landscape over tens of thousands of years.
Located in the Pilbara region of northwestern Western Australia, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape covers approximately 998.81 square kilometres. It is a living cultural landscape of profound spiritual, archaeological and historical significance. Although Murujuga National Park forms an important part of this broader region, the World Heritage property extends well beyond the park to encompass the wider archipelago and surrounding marine environments.
One of the most striking features of Murujuga is its extraordinary concentration of petroglyphs, or rock engravings. With an estimated one to two million engravings, the landscape contains one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of its kind. Created over thousands of years, these intricate artworks display remarkable artistic and technical skill.
The petroglyphs include abstract patterns, human-like figures, animals and complex scenes that reflect the cultural knowledge, beliefs and changing environments of the people who have lived in and cared for this place. Some engravings depict animals that are now extinct in the region, providing valuable insights into past environments and human relationships with the natural world.
The petroglyphs of Murujuga hold profound spiritual and cultural significance for the Ngarda-Ngarli. They are not simply remnants of the past but living expressions of cultural identity, ancestral connections and continuing traditions. Through storytelling, artistic practices and the transmission of knowledge between generations, these engravings help maintain the relationship between people and country. Lore, understood as the rules and narratives associated with the creation and care of country, is central to this relationship and informs the cultural responsibilities and customary governance through which the landscape is protected.
The Murujuga Cultural Landscape bears witness to over 50,000 years of human occupation and continuing cultural connection. This long history reflects generations of Ngarda-Ngarli using, caring for and managing the land and seascape through Traditional Law and knowledge adapted to changing environmental conditions. The landscape's significance therefore extends beyond its physical remains: its rock art, archaeological features, cultural practices and spiritual traditions together form a living record of human creativity, resilience and environmental knowledge.
Murujuga also encompasses diverse terrestrial and marine environments, including rocky coastlines, islands and coastal habitats. These environments support a variety of plant and animal life and form part of the interconnected ecological systems of the Pilbara region. The surrounding waters provide habitat for marine species, including turtles, fish and dugongs. The landscape's cultural and ecological values are closely connected, reflecting the longstanding relationship between the Ngarda-Ngarli and the natural world.
Beyond its cultural and spiritual importance, Murujuga provides significant evidence of early human occupation and artistic expression in Australia. Its petroglyphs, stone structures and archaeological remains offer insights into the development of artistic traditions, cultural knowledge and adaptation to environmental change over tens of thousands of years. Its archaeological record contributes to our understanding of early human occupation in Australia, alongside evidence from other ancient sites across the continent.
The inscription of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape as a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognises its Outstanding Universal Value and the exceptional significance of its living cultural traditions. It also highlights the importance of protecting the landscape's rock art, archaeological remains and interconnected land and sea environments. Effective conservation depends on respecting the knowledge, authority and continuing custodianship of the Ngarda-Ngarli, alongside appropriate legal protections, monitoring and collaborative management.
Ultimately, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape stands as a powerful testament to Australia's First Peoples and their enduring relationship with the country. Its ancient engravings, continuing cultural practices and interconnected environments provide a remarkable record of human creativity, spirituality and resilience. By recognising the custodianship of the Ngarda-Ngarli and supporting the protection of this extraordinary landscape, we can help ensure that its stories, cultural values and traditions remain meaningful for generations to come.
UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Murujuga is a landscape of ancient rocks located in northwest Australia, which encompasses the Burrup Peninsula, the Dampier Archipelago’s 42 islands, and nearby marine areas. It is shaped by the Lore—rules and narratives that were put in place to create the Country—and the enduring presence of the Ngarda-Ngarli, Traditional Owners and Custodians of the site. The property holds profound cultural and spiritual significance, reflecting over 50,000 years of continuous care and use. Murujuga is renowned for its dense concentration of petroglyphs, featuring unique motifs that display artistic and technical mastery.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (i): The petroglyphs of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape demonstrate artistic achievement assembled over 50,000 years. The creative genius of Ngarda-Ngarli ancestors is evidenced in artistic quality, placement within the landscape, and the overwhelming visual quality of the entire ensemble of 1-2 million petroglyphs. The artistic quality is remarkable. There is diversity in artistic expression, including use of naturalism and abstraction. While some anthropomorphic figures are arranged in complex scenes, others are engraved in distinctive styles as individual motifs. There are abstract static figures; unusual profile figures; as well as standing, running, and squatting figures, some with sinuous limbs, where artists have used profile and perspective to create a sense of movement. Many zoomorphic petroglyphs demonstrate detailed naturalism revealing morphological knowledge of locally and nationally extinct marsupials. Animal footprints denote spiritual paths through the landscape, and the corpus also includes geometric and abstract designs. The collection of rare and intricate archaic faces, thought to be some of the oldest Murujuga petroglyphs, are amongst the earliest anthropomorphic images on earth. These motifs were produced using complex decorative infill and would have required exceptionally skilled engraving techniques. The petroglyphs are visually outstanding, demonstrate technical skill, and represent multiple phases in the development of regional and local styles. The petroglyphs exist in deliberate spatial relations, established by deep cultural connections between people and landscape, imbued with meaning and associated with spiritual knowledge and practices. Their placement and content convey an encyclopaedia of cultural knowledge. The Murujuga petroglyphs are a manifestation of creative genius, inscribed in the landscape since deep time.
Criterion (iii): The Murujuga Cultural Landscape bears testimony to the living cultural traditions of Ngarda-Ngarli and the spiritual relationship between people and landscape that is at least 50,000 years old. Ngarda-Ngarli knowledge, Lore, Law, and culture are expressed through the landscape and in the petroglyph assemblage. The petroglyphs of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape have a central role in the continuing culture of Ngarda-Ngarli through storytelling that connects Country with creation stories. New generations learn cultural traditions through the observance of Law, artistic practices like song and dance, as well as the performance of particular actions at places of spiritual power within the landscape. Ngarda-Ngarli fulfill cultural obligations to look after the Murujuga Cultural Landscape. Ngarda-Ngarli know there are possible harmful effects if cultural obligations are neglected. The petroglyphs, stone structures and Ngarda-Ngarli’s cultural beliefs all provide testimony to a living cultural tradition. Petroglyphs are a permanent reminder that Traditional Lore is inscribed into the landscape. Stone structures and archaeological sites are a permanent inscription within the landscape of the practice of Law, the social division of space and adaptive strategies of stewardship within a dynamic environment. The creation narratives, jinna (‘songlines’), spiritual places, and thalu (increase sites) are fundamental to Ngarda-Ngarli understanding and management of nature. The natural attributes are a reminder of continuing traditional management of the land and seascape over thousands of generations. The stories, the resources and spirit of the land are alive and as important to Ngarda-Ngarli today as they have been for at least 50,000 years.
Criterion (v): The Murujuga Cultural Landscape exemplifies the combined works of nature and humankind. The relationship between Ngarda-Ngarli and the landscape is evident in the petroglyphs, archaeological record and, importantly, contemporary knowledge and culture. Material evidence and Ngarda-Ngarli living culture attest to continued use of the landscape over millennia, including periods of significant environmental and climatic change. The inextricable integration of cultural and natural attributes embodies the enduring relationship between people and nature, offering a unique example of human adaptation to ecological and cultural transition and environmental and cultural stewardship. The long history of adaptation to change illustrates a balanced, symbiotic relationship with nature, demonstrating the deep and sustainable connection of Ngarda-Ngarli to Country and exemplifying the traditional system perpetuated by Ngarda-Ngarli which governs the landscape as a whole. The landscape reveals a creation narrative of climatic change, culminating in rapid sea level rises that shifted the coastline approximately 160 kilometres, so the arid rocky ranges became an archipelago. The petroglyphs of Murujuga provide a detailed record of the ecological transition, illustrating traditional ecological knowledge. Ngarda-Ngarli witnessed and adapted to change, modifying rituals and the landscape, including middens, quarries, standing stones and fish traps. The landscape includes Australia’s earliest known domestic stone structures, as well as submerged occupation sites. Ngarda-Ngarli continue to sing jinna connecting the land and seascape. The Murujuga Cultural Landscape is an outstanding example of human interaction with the environment over at least 50,000 years. The landscape is patterned by this long-term presence persisting through irreversible environmental and climatic changes. The cultural landscape includes petroglyphs, stone structures and living cultural practices, which evidence adaptive utilisation of land and sea and continuous Ngarda-Ngarli custodianship of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape since deep time, through present time and for Ngarda-Ngarli into the future.
Encyclopedia Record: Murujuga National Park
Murujuga National Park is a national park on Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara region in the north-west of Western Australia, covering an area of 48.51 km2 (18.73 sq mi).Additional Site Details
Area: 99.881 hectares
Number of Components: 1
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement
Coordinates: -20.5650277778 , 116.6685277778
Image
© Marius Fenger, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
World Heritage Research
Discover scientific research and academic studies that deepen our understanding of Murujuga Cultural Landscape from its history and significance to its conservation, management, and contemporary challenges.
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Resource Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage and Community Resilience in the Pilbara, Western Australia
The Murujuga Cultural Landscape, an aspiring UNESCO World Heritage Site, faces significant threats from large-scale mineral extraction driven by resource diplomacy between Australia and Asia. This study reveals that while such economic exchanges benefit the Australian economy, they also result in the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and the destruction of their cultural heritage. By analyzing the roles of diverse stakeholders—including government authorities, multinational corporations, Indigenous communities, academics, and professionals—the research demonstrates how local-global entanglements of politics and power lead to both heritage protection and destruction. The authors propose interventions to address these complex interactions, aiming to foster a nuanced understanding of the relationship between heritage loss, resource diplomacy, and community resilience.
Saldin, M., & González Zarandona, J. A. (2026). Resource Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage and Community Resilience in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Contested Heritage, 92–112. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003623724-6
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Biological contributions to manganese oxides in rock varnish at Murujuga (Western Australia)
Rock varnish at Murujuga, Western Australia, contains a high concentration of manganese (Mn) oxides, predominantly in amorphous to poorly crystalline phases that evade traditional detection methods. Nanoscale analysis reveals biogenic Mn oxide structures, supported by metagenomic evidence showing dominance of Chroococcidiopsidaceae and Rubrobacter_F, known for intracellular Mn accumulation. Functional annotation confirms a community-level genomic potential for biologically influenced Mn utilization, suggesting ongoing biomineralization driven by environmental stressors. This process holds significant potential as a long-term paleoenvironmental and climate proxy, marking the first microbiomic characterization of rock varnish in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wu, Y.-L., Fairweather, J. H., Campbell, M., Hergt, J., Yusiharni, E., Smirk, M., Dodd, A., Sun, X., Clode, P., Hubbard, A., Allentoft, M. E., & McDonald, J. (2026). Biological contributions to manganese oxides in rock varnish at Murujuga (Western Australia). Scientific Reports, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-61982-w
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Provenance analysis of stone artefact assemblages using petrography and pXRF at Murujuga (the Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia
Over half of the stone artefacts at Nganjarli (Deep Gorge) on Murujuga, Western Australia, were sourced from non-local outcrops, a finding that highlights complex human mobility patterns in this culturally significant landscape. Researchers used petrography and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to analyze artefact assemblages across four sites, demonstrating the technique's effectiveness for in situ provenance analysis. By distinguishing local rock types using geochemical markers like zirconium (Zr) and titanium (Ti), the study revealed that most artefacts at other sites were locally sourced. This approach enhances understanding of landscape attachment and mobility in a region rich in tool-stone resources.
Fairweather, J. H., George, A. D., & McDonald, J. (2025). Provenance analysis of stone artefact assemblages using petrography and pXRF at Murujuga (the Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 66, 105334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105334
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The role of fringing mangroves in supporting macroinvertebrate fauna in an arid, macrotidal region of Australia
In arid, macrotidal mangrove systems like those in the Dampier Archipelago, infaunal invertebrate communities are more influenced by physical environmental conditions—such as sediment grain size and particulate organic matter (POM)—than by the presence of mangroves themselves. Research found that infaunal abundance and diversity were three times higher during the dry season compared to the wet season, with optimal conditions occurring at intermediate sediment grain sizes and POM levels. Stable isotope analysis further revealed that while mangrove-derived nutrients play a significant role in food web dynamics, their contribution varies widely among species, from ~70% in herbivorous Mangrove whelks to as low as 5% in filter-feeding Rock oysters. This study highlights the complex interplay between local and external nutrient sources in sustaining these ecosystems, providing critical baseline data for evidence-based conservation efforts—particularly relevant for the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, a candidate UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Beltran, L. (2025). The role of fringing mangroves in supporting macroinvertebrate fauna in an arid, macrotidal region of Australia [Edith Cowan University]. https://doi.org/10.25958/736S-CM95
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Local—National—Global: Defining Indigenous Values of Murujuga’s Cultural Landscape in the Frame of International Patrimony
The pursuit of UNESCO World Heritage recognition for Murujuga, Australia, highlights a significant disconnect between Indigenous custodial values and the international framework of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). While the Ngarda-Ngarli people seek global validation to strengthen protection against industrial encroachment, their conceptualization of ngurra (country) as an integrated natural and cultural domain challenges UNESCO's binary distinction. This study demonstrates that World Heritage status could empower local custodianship but also underscores the need for frameworks that better align with Indigenous perspectives.
Stevens, A., & McDonald, J. (2024). Local—National—Global: Defining Indigenous Values of Murujuga’s Cultural Landscape in the Frame of International Patrimony. Deep-Time Images in the Age of Globalization, 219–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54638-9_15
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Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming—A Long and Short History of this Cultural Landscape with Reference to Rock Art, Stone Features, Excavations and Historical Sites Recorded across the Dampier Archipelago between 2014 and 2018
A comprehensive analysis of Murujuga Cultural Landscape reveals significant insights into the long and short history of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia. The study, conducted between 2014 and 2018 across the Dampier Archipelago, integrates rock art, stone features, excavations, and historical sites to unravel the dynamics of this landscape. Key findings highlight the resilience and continuity of Aboriginal traditions despite environmental changes, providing a robust framework for the continued protection and understanding of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The research approach combines multi-disciplinary methods, including archaeological surveys, artifact analysis, and historical documentation, offering a nuanced perspective on the cultural significance and temporal layers of Murujuga.
Kelly, M. (2024). Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming—A Long and Short History of this Cultural Landscape with Reference to Rock Art, Stone Features, Excavations and Historical Sites Recorded across the Dampier Archipelago between 2014 and 2018. Australian Archaeology, 90(3), 359–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2024.2417512
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Stone artefacts on the seabed at a submerged freshwater spring confirm a drowned cultural landscape in Murujuga, Western Australia
Researchers have uncovered five ancient stone artefacts at a submerged freshwater spring site (WH1) within the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, part of Western Australia's Dampier Archipelago. This discovery, situated 14 meters below the intertidal zone in Flying Foam Passage, suggests human occupation during the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene, predating current sea levels. The study highlights the archaeological significance of submerged springs and demonstrates how advanced survey techniques—such as those used here—can reveal cultural landscapes in tropical geomorphological environments like mangrove coasts or reef systems. With thousands of potential drowned sites likely existing on tropical continental shelves down to 130 meters below sea level, this work underscores the untapped potential for underwater archaeology and its broader implications for understanding past human adaptations.
Benjamin, J., O’Leary, M., McCarthy, J., Reynen, W., Wiseman, C., Leach, J., Bobeldyk, S., Buchler, J., Kermeen, P., Langley, M., Black, A., Yoshida, H., Parnum, I., Stevens, A., Ulm, S., McDonald, J., Veth, P., & Bailey, G. (2023). Stone artefacts on the seabed at a submerged freshwater spring confirm a drowned cultural landscape in Murujuga, Western Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 313, 108190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108190
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