An online article on ABC North West WA - Pilbara Indigenous elders welcome return of rock art: Burrup Peninsula collection put into storage during LNG development - reports of the indigenous elders in the Western Australia's Pilbara region being satisfied that hundreds of rocks containing ancient carvings have been relocated from where they were stored in the 1980s.

Image: Hugh Brown

Some 1,800 engraved boulders from the Burrup Peninsula were placed in storage to make way for the development of the Woodside-operated North West Shelf LNG joint venture.

The Burrup Peninsula is home to the world's biggest collection of Aboriginal rock art and gained national heritage listing in 2007.

Woodside stated that it had recently completed the remediation of the Hearson Cove Compound site in partnership with senior law men from the local Indigenous groups, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and consulting archaeologists.

It had taken four years to decide on the process and about three months to actually relocate the rocks. Elder Wilfred Hicks told ABC North West WA he was pleased with the outcome despite the lengthy consultation process. The engraved rocks have been placed in culturally appropriate locations alongside the compound. Each rock was placed according to the theme of the carving.

Editor's note: rock art is part of nature, and it achieves its full significance in the context of the landscapes that contain it. The people who created the rock art sought access to the supernatural, to the world of the spirits that inhabited these special places. Therefore moving the rock art from its geographical context is of course unsatisfactory, but ensuring its future is paramount. Without being overly pessimistic, a great deal of rock art will be destroyed in the coming decades, and this heritage is in very serious danger. So this latest development is the lesser of two evils.

To view the Australia Rock Art Archive:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/bradshaws/index.php

To view the work of adventurer and photographer Hugh Brown:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/bradshaws/hugh-brown1.php