Murujuga and Cape Brugieres

Murujuga gurra Cape Brugieres

Rock engravings at Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia part of the Murujuga cultural landscape and the country’s largest collection of rock art. Photograph: Ken Mulvaney. From: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/29/australia-lodges-world-heritage-submission-for-50000-year-old-burrup-peninsula-rock-art

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Language Points

Guugu Yimithirr

Bubu binaalgu walu Murujuga gungaarr-guwaar Western Australia, nhaway warrga-ngamu pteroglyphs / nambal wagiiga, warra 1 million nhanharrin. Nhagala mugul-buthun walu 40,000 years old. Yiyi nguba mugul-buthun-gu nguumbarr nganhthaan binaal yiway bubu warrgawi. Nhilangan wagiiga wunay 1800s thanaan Yabuara bamaaga. Thanaan Yabuara gunday wangaarrngun, galmba wugurrin thanaan-gamun bubunganh. Nhayun Flying Foam massacre 1868bi. Thana Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation waarga-mathiilthil thanaan Governmentthirr banyjinu yiyi bubu gunyjiirr.

Cape Brugieres, nhagala Dampier Burriirngaybi, waguurr Burrup Peninsulabi, Western Australia, nhagala bama thagaalngan buurraay badiinggarrbi archeological bubu waami. Guunduu-guunduu nhambal tools waami thaluun bubuwi, gurra galmba buurraay binhthu buyuurbi. Thana scientistsngun gurralal thana bama nhin-gay yiway, garrgu-bada thaluun muunhthiirrgu yiyi bubu gaarbaarr 18,000 gurra 7,000 years ago.

Bubu gujin wali Australiawi binaal warrga milbingay Thalun Bubuungu. Guunduu-guunduu bubu nhagala bama nhin-gaalnggay nhamu-nhamu gurra nhilangan badiinggarr thalunbi gurra waaminu garrguugu.

English

In the area known as Murujuga in north-western Western Australia, there are many petroglyphs / rock carvings, over one million of them. The oldest are about 40,000 years old. This may be the oldest art we know about in the world. The most recent were carved in the 1800s by the Yabuara people, who were murdered or driven off their land during the Flying Foam massacre in 1868. The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation is working with the government to preserve this important cultural site.

Cape Brugieres, in the Dampier archipelago, off the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia is the first Aboriginal underwater archeological site that has been found.  Many stone tools have been found on the seabed, as well as a freshwater spring. Scientists think that people lived here until the sea submerged this area between 18,000 and 7,000 years ago.

Traditional owners everywhere in Australia know many stories about Sea Country. Many more sites that people once used to live at and that are now under the sea could be found in the future.

A selection of stone artefacts found on the seabed during fieldwork.

Photo credit: John McCarthy & Chelsea Wiseman From: https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/07/aboriginal-artefacts-reveal-first.html