THE BURRUP PENINSULAR, PILBARA

Glenda Larke — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 02:44:00 +0000

Our Pilbara trip to the north of my state, June-July 2014, continued…

The first glimpse of the Burrup Peninsular, out of Karratha, is not all that prepossessing. There is, after all, a huge industrial complex there, see above. This is Woodside, the North West Shelf Project (which is natural gas). If you ever go there; do have a look at their public exhibition hall — it is superb.

The centre includes replicas of some of the oldest art in the world — nearby there are a mere 1 million or so examples spread over 88 sq kms! Forget European paleolithic art…it pales in comparison to what Burrup has to offer.

These are etchings (petroglyphs) on rock, out in the open on the Peninsular and the 42 islands of the Dampier Archipelago. Because they are done on rock, it is hard to be precise about the age.

Best guess, perhaps 40,000 years.

Above: Everywhere you look there are red rocks, many of them etched.
With matching flowers…

Sturt’s Desert Pea in fiery blazes of colour…

In the centre of the group above you can see etched bird tracks.

Below a marsupial of some kind.

The beaches of the Burrup — in spite of the industrial complex — still manage to be stunning!

The “sand” you see below is actually shells, not sand at all. Nothing but shells.

Below: a local walking his dog across glistening sands when the tide is out…

Note the clear water above.

petroglyphs –

THE BURRUP PENINSULAR, PILBARA