Murujuga Aboriginal

Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) is made up of members from five traditional Aboriginal language groups: the Ngarluma, the Mardudhunera, the Yaburara, the Yindjibarndi, and the Wong-Goo-Tt-Oo. MAC’s mission is to preserve and protect its landholdings for future generations and to enrich and support the welfare of its members, now and into the future. MAC recognises that it is unique. MAC brings together these five language groups, each with their own dynamics, to pave the way for future generations, to work together for Country, and to respect cultural lore, heritage, and traditions. MAC was incorporated on the 19th April 2006 and is the approved corporate body for the Burrup and Maitland Industrial Estates Agreement (BMIEA). Murujuga National Park is the 100th national park in Western Australia. It is famous for its ancient rock art or petroglyphs. More than forty thousand years ago, the Aboriginal people of Murujuga commenced pecking the surface of the rocks, thereby creating the petroglyphs that we see today. These differ from rock paintings called ‘pictographs’ that are not found at Murujuga. Unlike other rock art sites around the world, the petroglyphs of Murujuga are still highly relevant to the contemporary Aboriginal people of Murujuga, who today live in cities and towns such as Karratha, Roebourne, Wickham and even Perth, WA. Murujuga’s rock art is also of continuing importance to archaeologists, scientists, scholars and other researchers who continue to add new finds to the more than one million petroglyphic images already recorded. Murujuga was the first national park in Western Australia to be co-managed, with MAC sharing responsibilities for the park with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA).