Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi man Patrick Churnside is singing to his Country.
Dawn is breaking at Hearson's Cove, in Western Australia's Pilbara region, casting a mirror-like reflection from the sky and the looming red rock hills, over the mud flats.
"The sun gets up, the light touches everything on the land, everything comes to life," he says.
His beautiful words in an ancient language masks the deep turmoil he feels inside.
He's worried about the impact of expanding heavy industry on the globally-significant collection of ancient rock engravings, on the Burrup Peninsula.
Patrick Churnside, a Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi custodian, sings about the sunrise on the Burrup Peninsula in WA's Pilbara region. Source: NITV The Point Jo Grant
Country's sadness
Murujuga has been placed on the tentative World Heritage List, but neighbouring the site are major gas and fertiliser plants.
There are growing concerns about the impact from increasing emissions and development.
Chemicals company Perdaman has just received a $255 million boost from the federal government's Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for its $4.3 billion urea plant, and in January received approval to disturb three Aboriginal sites in the industrial precinct.
"I can hear what Country is saying," Patrick Churnside says.
"Sometimes it's sadness, maybe its sorrow.
"The man in the suit doesn't feel that.
"Why is it so important for the government and industry to say 'we want to be here'?.
"Our songs and our story and our dreaming are here. That's what we are fighting to save."
Traditional custodians Josie Alec, Patrick Churnside and Raelene Cooper say they are deeply concerned about the risk to ancient Aboriginal heritage. Source: NITV The Point
Emergency declaration sought
Mr Churnside, a cultural advisor to the Murujura rangers, isn't the only person to feel this way.
Mardudhunera women Josie Alec and Raelene Cooper have written to the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt asking for urgent help.
They've sought an emergency declaration to stop Perdaman disturbing the three sites.
They have also asked the government to assess the threats posed by the cumulative development to the Murujuga Aboriginal heritage.
"We had to take drastic measures because this place behind me is at risk," says Josie Alec.
"The rock art ...is the first creation story of mankind. This is bigger than temples, this is bigger and older than the pyramids. I just don't understand why you think culture and industry can exist (together). It cannot."
A spokesperson for Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the application is currently being assessed.
The office of Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has asked Minister Ley's officer to consider the application "as quickly as possible".
Murujuga is home to a gallery of a million ancient rock engravings, on the Burrup Peninsula in WA's Pilbara region. Source: NITV The Point
Extensive consultation before approval: Government
A WA Government spokesman said Perdaman was granted conditional Section 18 approval to disturb the sites in January.
"The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, who represents the five Traditional Owners Groups, and the Circle of Elders, was consulted extensively during the process, and recommended that the section 18 be approved, subject to conditions," the spokesman said in a statement.
"The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage continues to engage with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation as it develops its Cultural Heritage Management Plan.
"This plan will address how sites, both registered and unregistered, are managed prior to work starting. No ground disturbance works can take place until the plan is developed.
"The environmental approval for the project is also subject to a condition requires that there are no adverse impacts accelerating the weathering of the Murujuga rock art from air emissions."
Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) Chief Executive Peter Jeffries said the corporation had been advised of the heritage protection application.
"The Commonwealth has provided MAC with the opportunity to review and comment on the application, which we will do so in the near future," Mr Jeffries said in a statement.
Comment was being sought from Perdaman.
Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper is speaking out against further industrial development on the Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara. Source: NITV The Point
Custodians say they've been gagged
Heavy industry started appearing on the Burrup Peninsula in the 1950s without the consent of custodians.
Almost 20 years ago the state government signed an agreement with the local language groups, known as BIMEA, to pave the way for industry.
But Mardudhunera custodians Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec say the community was mislead about what they were signing, and gagged from speaking out about future development under a "no objections" clause.
"From the beginning no one was consented, from the beginning no one was asked," Ms Cooper says.
"The big players with money and the government came in and destroyed history."
Following Rio Tinto's destruction of ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara, a parliamentary inquiry last year recommended gag clauses be banned from agreements with traditional custodians.
But the WA Government says there is "nothing in the agreement that prevents Traditional Owners from having a say in how their cultural heritage is managed and protected".
A government spokesman said the State Government encourages "project proponents to obtain informed consent from Traditional Owners for any activities undertaken in the Burrup Strategic Industrial Area and has been working very closely with current proponents and MAC to see this achieved".
"The requirement (clause 4.8) set out in the agreement is traditional owners do not object to proposals in their capacity as owners of the Burrup Non-Industrial Land to development proposals intended to occur on land within the Industrial Estate."
The government spokesman said the state government recognises the immense significance of Murujuga, but it also is home to several industries which are important to the economy.
"It is a priority that these co-exist harmoniously with the surrounding cultural heritage," the spokesman says in a statement.
Patrick Churnside points out animals engraved in the rocks at Murujuga in the Pilbara. Source: NITV The Point
Resignation in protest
Raelene Cooper says she resigned from the Murujuga board last month in protest over the industrial expansion.
"I've sat in that boardroom for nearly 10 years and I've fought the fight, I've asked the questions," she says.
"I want to know, how can you allow this to happen?
"They're shutting us down. Nobody's had a say about this place.
"We are all speaking now because this is important, for myself, for my family, for everybody."
The letter calling for federal intervention also reveals the Murujuga area was removed from the state's Aboriginal heritage systems a decade ago in error - and has never been reinstated, despite its significance.
The government says it's considering the re-registration of significant sites alongside the work to have the area recognised on the World Heritage List.
It says a Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program is currently underway to study the impact and potential future impact of industrial emissions on the rock art.
"Outcomes from the monitoring program are crucial to support the Murujuga World Heritage nomination and will provide environmental quality criteria and standards for the regulation of industry," the government spokesman says.
But traditional custodians like Patrick Churnside says the need for protection - and the threat to Murujuga - has never been greater.
"When we look at that site, knowing full well and understanding what the rock and the art on that site may depict, my obligation says 'no way, leave it alone. It doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the country'," Mr Churnside says.
"We as the custodial people have an obligation to say no to protect that."
For more on this story, tune into NITV's flagship current affairs program The Point, Tuesday 7.30pm on Channel 34, or later on SBS or SBS On Demand.
Heavy industry has been on the Burrup Peninsula for decades, but some traditional custodians are growing increasingly worried about expansion plans. Source: NITV The Point
