BRISBANE, Australia — Formed billions of years ago from volcanic magma, the red rocks and hills of Murujuga arise in striking contrast to the surrounding green native grasses.
This area, in what is known today as Western Australia (WA), holds the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs, dating back at least 40,000 years. Described as a “bible” for local Indigenous groups, some of the rocks even depict the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Murujuga also encompasses 42 islands that are surrounded by passageways for various migratory whale and dolphin species.
All this dynamic land is tied together by the Turtle Dreaming story. It details how the freshwater meets the ocean through the acts of a turtle, says Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and former board member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. This is one of the greatest creation stories for the Indigenous groups, referred to as original custodians — as in caretakers — of Murujuga.
“We have an enormous responsibility in terms of creating a safe space for all plant life, land animals, marine animals and the underwater systems and especially the connection with the rock art,” Cooper tells Mongabay.
And part of this landscape is an expanding industrial site that protrudes from the rich, red earth.
Environmentalists and Indigenous advocates say the sacred site is threatened by the upcoming expansion planned by Australia’s largest petroleum company, Woodside Energy. The project entails expanding two processing plants and building two new offshore gas fields in what will produce billions of metric tons of carbon emissions over 50 years, conflict with the nation’s climate targets, endanger pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) through seismic blasting and further destroy the sacred rock art, they say. Woodside has started dredging to make way for gas wells in critical breeding habitat for endangered hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata).
Woodside Energy factory can be seen beyond the red rocks of Murujuga. The petroglyph of a kangaroo can be seen on the rock. Image courtesy of the Disrupt Burrup Hub.
Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and former board member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, talks about the petroglyphs detailing how all this dynamic land is tied together by the Turtle Dreaming story. Image courtesy of the Disrupt Burrup Hub.
This development, named the Burrup Hub project, is Australia’s largest fossil fuel project, which Woodside and the state government say is crucial for the stability of the international and domestic economy.
“While activists are claiming WA needs to get off gas, the opposite is in fact true. The government’s own forecasts show that more gas will be needed in WA as we make the transition to renewables in the years ahead,” wrote Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill in a local paper. “Without it, jobs and energy security are at risk and cost of living pressures will rise.”
However, research by The Australia Institute disputes this. It suggests that the country already has more than enough gas for the future. The problem is not a lack of supply, the researchers say, but that Australia’s existing gas is overwhelmingly exported.
In response to the conflict, protests by Indigenous custodians and environmentalists, along with subsequent crackdowns by the state, have erupted across Western Australia in recent years.
Desmond Blurton, an Indigenous Ballardong Noongar custodian, is one of the protesters. He undertakes direct action tactics as lead Indigenous spokesperson of Disrupt Burrup Hub, a campaign that has rattled the bones of the WA government, Woodside and much of local media. In 2022, Woodside donated thousands to the ruling Labor Party and a leading local media group has a stake in Woodside Energy.
Ongoing direct action and resistance to the gas plant has included forcing the evacuation of Woodside sites using nontoxic gas, spraying graffiti on buildings and an iconic painting and interrupting an Australian football game. In retaliation, police and state crackdown on protesters has been severe and imposed the strongest form of charges on activists.
Since the start of the year as the gas development projects ramped up, campaigners, including one as young as 19, have had their homes raided and been pulled over in their cars at gunpoint by state security police. Authorities have also seized their possessions and handed them gag orders.
Woodside Energy has started dredging to make way for gas wells in critical breeding habitat for endangered hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). The project will also endanger pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) through seismic blasting. Image by David P. Robinson / Ocean Image Bank.
Desmond Blurton, an Indigenous Ballardong Noongar custodian, undertakes direct action tactics as lead Indigenous spokesperson of Disrupt Burrup Hub, a campaign that has rattled the bones of the WA government, Woodside and much of local media. Image courtesy of the Disrupt Burrup Hub.
Little tolerance left for protests
In recent years, Australia, following suit of countries in Europe, has put increasing pressure on climate protesters, raising penalties and using existing laws in draconian ways.
In New South Wales, where protestors have been fighting logging on Indigenous Gumbaynggirr land, the state government introduced penalties in 2022 targeting people whose actions disrupt businesses and economic activity, such as by blocking roads and ports, with up to two years in maximum security prison and fines of AU$22,000 (about $15,000).
In the same year, the state of Victoria also introduced new measures targeting anti-logging protesters with up to 12 months in prison or $21,000 in fines. Similarly, in Tasmania, home to old-growth forests, environmental activists “now face fines of AU$13,000 [$8,200] or two years in prison,” according to Human Rights Watch. In Queensland, locking devices are banned, and those using them in protest face up to two years in prison and/or an AU$6,000 ($3,800) fine.
Most recently, in May this year, the South Australian state government passed new laws increasing fines for obstructing a public place from AU$750 ($475) to AU$50,000 ($31,600) and including possibility of three months in prison.
While WA hasn’t specifically changed laws to target and penalize climate protestors, the state has escalated its crackdown through the ways existing laws are applied. For example, multiple campaigners from Disrupt Burrup Hub have been charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offense as well as handed violence restraining orders.
Similar to Australian police tactics and crackdowns that gained global attention during COVID-19 protests, the WA Police Force has used surveillance on climate campaigners in Perth, enabling state security police to make arrests before planned actions have taken place.
Formed billions of years ago from volcanic magma, the red rocks and hills of Murujuga arise in striking contrast to the surrounding green native grasses. Image courtesy of the Disrupt Burrup Hub.
A senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), David Mejia-Canales, says the orders used on climate defenders in Australia are concerning.
“As humanity enters the ‘era of global boiling,’ Woodside and the multibillion-dollar fossil fuel industry are trying to send a chilling message to anyone who dares to speak out: You will be intimidated and silenced,” Mejia-Canales says.
According to a spokesperson at the WA Police Force, the state security police is aligned with community safety and security.
“[We] undertake investigations into acts of individuals/groups who have (or are alleged to have) undertaken criminal activities impacting upon community safety/well-being, with a political, religious or ideological motivation,” the spokesperson tells Mongabay. “These types of activities sit outside of the right to engage in lawful protest.”
In the case of Burrup Hub protests, a few non-Indigenous protesters used a non-toxic stench gas to force the evacuation of Woodside sites — evacuating several thousand Woodside workers and stopping work for the day in one case. In April, another protester was charged with Aggravated Burglary for attempting an evacuation using smoke flares.
But the HRLC says the charges have gone too far. It’s particularly concerned with the way Western Australian authorities are using violence restraining orders, which are meant to be used to protect women and children from family violence perpetrators.
“These orders have been sought in unprecedented circumstances, despite there being no accusations that the protesters have at any stage used or threatened violence against anyone at Woodside,” Mejia-Canales says. “We have never seen restraining orders, which are designed to protect people fleeing family violence, used to silence dissent.”