International Council on Monuments and Sites and the Government of Australia are committed to recognizing indigenous heritage

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has resolved to ensure that the significance and value of indigenous tangible and intangible heritage, including cultural landscapes and biodiversity, are integrated into ICOMOS practices and activities. This resolution was adopted at the recent General Assembly in Sydney.

The Australian Government is also committed to changing „the way we look at heritage“ to include „an Indigenous perspective that truly preserves and protects Australia’s history“. Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek made the announcement in a speech at the ICOMOS conference. She also announced a $5.5 million funding program will be implemented later this year to reassess the cultural value of Australia’s existing World Heritage sites.

ICOMOS is a global organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of cultural heritage. The World Heritage Convention is an international treaty that protects cultural and natural heritage around the world. It requires States Parties to sanction any violation of its provisions. States Parties are obliged to prosecute and punish individuals who violate the Convention within their ordinary criminal jurisdiction. In Australia, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth of Australia) (EPBC Act), it is an offence to take action that has, or would have, a significant effect on the World Heritage values of a declared World Heritage site.

State and territory legislation, including the Heritage Act 1977 (New South Wales), the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Queensland) and the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Victoria), also protects the cultural heritage values of sites, including World Heritage Sites, and prohibits actions that may affect cultural heritage.

Federal Government proclamations and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) resolutions have paved the way for further listings of sites based solely on Aboriginal cultural values.

Murujuga National Park: potential UNESCO New World Heritage Site

In February 2023, the Federal Government nominated Murujuga National Park for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an important Indigenous cultural site. If inscribed on the World Heritage List, the park would be the second site after the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape to receive World Heritage status solely for its Indigenous cultural significance.

Murujuga National Park is located on the Broop Peninsula in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is home to the world’s largest and most diverse concentration of petroglyphs, with more than one million petroglyphs depicting people, animals, plants and other symbols. The park is also an important cultural landscape for the Aboriginal people of the region.