Key Points
- The pair vandalised the artwork with the Woodside logo to protest the company's expansion in the Pilbara.
- Woodside is planning to expand in the Burrup Peninsula, home to some of the world's oldest rock art.
- The artwork wasn't damaged, with the protestors spraying on clear plastic.
Activists and artists have launched a faux attack on one of Australia's most famous paintings to protest a gas company's alleged destruction of rock art in Western Australia's north.
Video released by Disrupt Burrup Hub on Thursday shows ceramic artist Joana Partyka spray-painting a Woodside Energy logo onto Fredrick McCubbin's Down On His Luck at the Art Gallery of WA.
She then appears to glue her hand to the wall beside the colonial masterpiece as Ballardong Noongar man Desmond Blurton lays an Aboriginal flag on the floor of the gallery.
"This painting is barely 100 years old," he said, pointing to McCubbin's 1889 oil on canvas work.
"We have 50,000-year-old artwork that Woodside is destroying. Cultural artwork that is sacred to our people is being destroyed."
Desmond Blurton standing alongside a second protestor at the State Library alongside the painting. Credit: Disrupt Burrup Hub
"Woodside likes to slap their logo on everything while they spray their toxic emissions all over sacred rock art," Ms Partyka said.
"We must stop any more industry on the Burrup, or soon there will be no art left."
The gallery said the artwork was protected by a clear plastic sheet and not damaged by the yellow paint.
WA police said a 37-year-old woman believed to be Ms Partyka was arrested at the gallery following reports of a disturbance.
"A protester was located inside the gallery, where it is believed she had damaged a painting and glued her hand to a wall," a police spokeswoman said.
"A second protester, who was in company with the woman, left the gallery after being asked by security and prior to police attendance."
'Why can't they leave art alone?'
Burrup Peninsula, otherwise known as Murujuga, Traditional custodian and former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation Raelene Cooper saw the protest on the news.
The Mardudhunera woman said it was "very courageous".
"Some people were asking 'why can’t they leave the art alone?' That’s exactly how we feel about what Woodside is doing to our rock art, and our sacred Songlines and the plants and animals on the Burrup," she said.
"How can there be so much fuss about some temporary spray paint on a single piece of art from 100 years ago when Woodside are spraying their emissions all around the oldest, largest art gallery on planet earth?
"Murujuga holds the stories and Songlines of our people going back more than 50,000 years. Why can’t they leave the art alone?”
Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper spoke to the United Nations on halting the industrial development on the Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara. Credit: NITV The Point
Murujuga petroglyphs
The Burrup Peninsula contains the largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs in the world.
It is also home to the Murujuga National Park, the town of Dampier, Dampier Salt, a Rio Tinto Iron Ore export facility and a fertiliser plant.
Development on the 30km long and 5km wide peninsula, formerly known as Dampier Island, has been opposed in previous decades.
Woodside is one of the world's top 10 independent energy companies and Australia's largest independent and dedicated producer of oil and liquefied natural gas.
It has operated the Karratha Gas Plant on the Burrup for over 30 years, and has the majority share in the nearby Pluto Gas Plant.
Both projects required a significant amount of rock art to be relocated on the peninsula.
The rock art at Murujuga is believed to be the oldest rock art in the world. Source: Supplied
In a statement, a spokeswoman said Woodside respects people's rights to protest peacefully and lawfully.
"Woodside has a proven, more than 35-year track record of safe, reliable and sustainable operations on Murujuga, delivering natural gas to customers in WA and around the world," she said.
"Our environmental approach complies with all applicable environmental laws and regulations and is underpinned by robust science-based decisions."
The company said peer-reviewed research had not identified any impacts on Murujuga rock art from industrial emissions associated with liquefied natural gas production.
Chair of the World Rock Art at the University of Western Australia, Professor Benjamin Smith said Woodside's statement was "willfully misleading".
"This is akin to a major carbon emitter claiming that no-one has linked their specific carbon emissions to global warming. That would be absurd, and so is Woodside's claim," he said.
He said it's been shown that "nitrogen oxide pollution, combined with local rain and dew, is causing serious damage to Murujuga rock art".
