The Destruction of Heritage: Rock Art in the Burrup Peninsula

Authors

  • José Antonio González Zarandona Universidad de Melbourne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revhuman.v1.677

Keywords:

Destruction, Heritage, Colonialism, Identity, Land

Abstract

The destruction of rock art in the Burrup Peninsula, performed by several mammoth industries strategically located in the Peninsula since the 1960s, allows me to analyse the concept of heritage within a global history of art and find meaning in the difficult task of interpreting rock art. The Burrup Peninsula not only hosts the largest rock art site in the world, but also one of the largest deposits of natural gas, iron ore and salt. As a consequence, the land (sacred to the Indigenous people), becomes extremely important in order to sustain the booming economy of Australia. In this difficult negotiation between heritage and progress the rock art is embedded with new meanings and the heritage becomes ephemeral. Failing to include the site in the World Heritage Site list created by UNESCO, the roles of identity and memory are contested by the two groups represented on each side of the debate: on one hand, the Aboriginal Traditional owners and the archaeologists; on the other, the Australian government and the cultural establishment that denies the rock art an aesthetic significance by considering it "primitive" and "archaic". The debate becomes even more pertinent after realizing that the Australian government has flagged other buildings and natural parks as World Heritage Sites, while the rock art in the Burrup Peninsula is catalogued as national, but not World, Heritage. As a result, the concept of heritage can be defined on several levels: local, regional, national and international.

Author Biography

José Antonio González Zarandona, Universidad de Melbourne

Nací en México en 1980, donde realicé mis estudios universitarios en Ciencias de la Comunicación. Durante el periodo 2002-2003 estudié literatura en la Universidad de Salamanca, España, como parte de un programa de intercambio universitario. De regreso a México, me titulé en el año 2005 con una tesis sobre la historia del cine experimental, lo cual me llevó a aplicar a una Maestría en Estudios Cinematográficos en la Universidad de Melbourne. En el año 2008 me gradué y luego fui aceptado para continuar mis estudios de posgrado en el programa de Historia de Arte en la misma Universidad, supervisado por la Profesora Jaynie Anderson FAHA CIHA y la Profesora Asociada Louise Hitchcock. Mi tópico de investigación es la destrucción del patrimonio y se enfoca en el arte rupestre de Australia Occidental. Entre el año 2007 y 2009, trabajé como diseñador multimedia en la Galería Nacional de Victoria, un trabajo que desempeñé con anterioridad en varias casas productoras en México.

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Published

2012-03-05

How to Cite

González Zarandona, J. A. (2012). The Destruction of Heritage: Rock Art in the Burrup Peninsula. HUMAN REVIEW. International Humanities Review Revista Internacional De Humanidades, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revhuman.v1.677

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2012)

Section

Research articles

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