Murujuga Dynamics of the Dreaming

Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming was an Australian Research

Council Linkage Project (LP140100393) administered by the Centre

for Rock Art Research and Management (CRAR+M) at the University

of Western Australia (UWA). This project involved Murujuga Aboriginal

Corporation (MAC) as collaborating organisation and Rio Tinto as the

partner organisation. Field-based research ran from 2014 to 2018. This

aimed to provide scientific evidence to protect and understand the

National Heritage-listed rock art and stone structures of Murujuga

(Burrup Peninsula) and Dampier Archipelago and provide new

evidence in support of the World Heritage nomination of this property.

Rio Tinto's involvement is founded on its conservation

agreement with the Commonwealth, which funds research into

the values of the National Heritage Listed Place. This support has

included the initial endowment of the Rio Tinto Chair of Rock Art

Studies at UWA as well as ongoing funding support through the

Rio Tinto UWA Memorandum of Understanding, which employs the

CRAR+M Database Manager, and funds the annual Murujuga rock

art field schools and capacity for research projects in the Pilbara

with other Pilbara communities.

In keeping with the goals of the CRAR+M monograph series, this

volume is data rich, with detailed information about the rock art,

stone structures and excavated sites researched by this project.

Throughout the project's fieldwork, the researchers met regularly

with the Murujuga Circle of Elders to update them on results and

to seek permissions for the next phase of fieldwork. All imagery

included in this monograph has been cleared for publication by

MAC. Additional imagery and educational content can be found

on the CRAR+M website (www.crarm.uwa.edu.au/m2), where

digital versions of individual chapters from this monograph can

also be accessed.

About the editors: Jo McDonald and Ken Mulvaney have

brought their considerable national experience and locally honed

expertise to combine their roles in the academy and industry,

to undertake the fieldwork and oversee the completion of the

documentation for this monograph.