Local—National—Global: Defining Indigenous Values of Murujuga’s Cultural Landscape in the Frame of International Patrimony

Murujuga, as the Dampier Archipelago (including Burrup Peninsula) National Heritage Listed Place is known to its traditional custodians, is on the Pilbara coast of northern Western Australia. Murujuga’s scientific values are endorsed on Australia’s National Heritage List under a range of significance criteria. This chapter describes how an Australian local Aboriginal community’s contemporary connections and significance values have been framed through the lens of Outstanding Universal Value in a world heritage nomination—and the scaffolding required to translate local and national heritage values into the global purview. The World Heritage List (WHL) criteria distinguish between natural and cultural values: an anathema to Aboriginal custodians who see ngurra (country) as both a natural and cultural domain. We describe the disjunct between Aboriginal custodial connections to country and UNESCO’s framing of Outstanding Universal Values (OUV) for a world heritage nomination. The Ngarda-Ngarli are pursuing World Heritage by documenting outstanding universal cultural values under criteria i, iii, and v). For Aboriginal custodians this journey towards international recognition provides an opportunity to assert their local connection and control over this significant place, in the belief that global recognition will increase its protection. This chapter explores whether World Heritage recognition will help its traditional custodians to manage this extraordinary heritage estate, particularly in the face of the national economic value being placed on Industry in this same landscape.