The Dampier Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula)
National Heritage Assessment
Australian Heritage Council
The names of individual assessors and nominators have been removed for privacy reasons
National Heritage Assessment
The Australian Heritage Council (AHC) found the Dampier Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula) contains one of the richest concentrations of rock engravings and stone arrangements in Australia making it of outstanding national heritage significance. The area contains tens of thousands of engravings, with richly detailed images of water birds, crabs, crayfish, kangaroos, turtles and fish, and schematised human figures with both human and animal features. There is also an exceptionally high density of stone pits, complex circular arrangements, and standing stones ranging from single monoliths through to extensive alignments of three or four hundred stones.
Download
The Council's final assessment report as given to the Minister is available here.
- AHC final assessment report: The Dampier Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula) (PDF - 168 KB) | (RTF - 3.4 MB)
In some cases the Minister will have made amendments to such matters as boundaries, values and descriptions, before listing the place. For final listing data visit the Australian Heritage Database or the National Heritage Listing for the Dampier Archipelago .
The names of individual assessors and nominators have been removed for privacy reasons.
Further assessment of the Outstanding Universal Value and any threats to the site
On 2 March 2011, in response to a motion in the Senate, Minister Burke, instructed the Australian Heritage Council to undertake an emergency assessment of the outstanding universal values of the Dampier Archipelago and any threats to the site.
On 30 September 2011 the Australian Heritage Council provided the minister with the following draft reports.
Outstanding Universal Values assessment report
For a property to be inscribed on the World Heritage List it must be accepted by the World Heritage Committee as being of Outstanding Universal Value.
- Study of the Outstanding Universal Values of The Dampier Archipelago Site, Western Australia (PDF - 5.8 MB)
- Appendix 2 - World Heritage List Properties with rock art and monuments (PDF - 268 KB)
- Appendix 3 - Summary of inscribed rock art properties (PDF - 2.7 MB)
- Appendix 4 - World Heritage Tentative List for rock art and monuments (PDF - 92 KB)
- Appendix 5 - Site card showing level of detail recorded on a sample rock art site in the Dampier Archipelago NHL listed area (PDF - 2.1 MB)
Threats assessment report
While the national heritage significance of The Dampier Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula) is recognised, however it is still subject to a number of potential threats. This report is a desktop study of these potential threats.
- Threats to the Heritage Values of the Dampier Archipelago Site (PDF - 2.0 MB)
- Attachment A - Dampier Archipelago Risk Assessment Matrix (PDF - 168 KB)
- Attachment B - National Heritage List Boundary map (PDF - 28.7 MB)
- Attachment C - National Heritage List Place Report (PDF - 308 KB)
Next steps
The Council has advised the minister that additional work is required to determine if the place has potential outstanding universal values required for a world heritage listing.
The Council is expects to produce their final report by March 2012.
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