Why Traditional PR Fails Against Organized Indigenous Advocacy

An Australian dispute over ancient rock art has become an urgent case study for resource companies across Asia-Pacific, exposing the limits of traditional public relations in an era of professionally organized Indigenous advocacy.

The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), representing five Traditional Owner groups in Western Australia, is running a coordinated campaign to secure UNESCO World Heritage listing for the 100,000-hectare Murujuga Cultural Landscape. The site holds an estimated one to two million ancient petroglyphs, some dating back tens of thousands of years, located directly adjacent to Woodside's North West Shelf gas project and other industrial operations on the Burrup Peninsula.

The campaign has drawn international attention, and the communications battle around it is now generating lessons that reach far beyond Australia.

MAC's Multi-Platform Campaign Sets a New Benchmark

MAC's advocacy strategy combines paid social media across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok with elder testimonials, infographics, and Q&A sessions. The organization has also advanced the Strategic Agreement-Making (SAM) Project since 2023, establishing a Statement of Intent built on 13 guiding principles for equal decision-making between MAC, industry, and government.

At the center of the scientific debate sits the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program 2024, an 807-page report produced by Curtin University. Both sides in the dispute cite this document to support opposing conclusions about industrial pollution's impact on the rock art.

The Western Australia Parliament affirmed in May 2025 that industrial activity, tourism, and cultural protection programs coexist successfully on the Burrup Peninsula. That position remains actively contested by Indigenous advocacy groups.

Intra-Community Dissent Complicates the Picture

A critical development for resource companies watching this case is the emergence of Save Our Songlines, an Indigenous-led organization opposing the specific UNESCO listing approach, led by a former MAC chair. Save Our Songlines argues it wants stronger protections for the rock art, not weaker ones, and disputes how the scientific monitoring report has been interpreted.

When Mumbrella's annual CommsCon conference accepted a session featuring Orizontas and MAC on their campaign, Save Our Songlines contacted the publication to challenge characterizations of their position. Mumbrella consulted Curtin University lead scientist Ben Mullins before proceeding, removed contested language, and offered Save Our Songlines right of reply. Panelist Hannah Ferguson from Cheek Media subsequently withdrew, citing personal ties to Save Our Songlines leadership. Coverage followed in The Guardian and Crikey.

As Mumbrella's editor noted: "The toughest communications challenges are not going to come in neat situations."

A Regional Pattern Taking Shape Across Asia-Pacific

The Murujuga case reflects a broader shift across Asia-Pacific. In Indonesia and India's Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh states, Indigenous groups are using community radio and youth-led digital documentation to challenge resource development narratives. In the Philippines' BARMM region, 24 Resource Use and Management Programs use ArcGIS mapping to support negotiations between Indigenous communities, governments, and investors.

At the regional level, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, AMAN, and Land is Life coordinated youth delegates at the UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum in Bangkok in 2024, embedding Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) demands into international business-and-human-rights discussions. The 2nd Southeast Asia Regional Forum held in Bogor in August 2025 produced the Bogor Call to Action 2025, demanding equitable climate financing and digital sovereignty for Indigenous communities.

What Resource Companies Now Face

For communications professionals managing resource projects in Asia-Pacific, the Murujuga case delivers three practical signals. Indigenous advocacy organizations are now running sophisticated, multi-platform campaigns with international reach. Scientific evidence has become a contested battleground requiring independent expert engagement. And internal divisions within Indigenous communities mean a single community agreement no longer guarantees stable public positioning.

The MAC CEO described the SAM Project's co-governance framework as creating "certainty and stability" for all parties. That model, built on structured equal decision-making before conflict escalates, offers a documented reference point for resource companies planning operations in Indigenous territories across the region.

The Murujuga UNESCO nomination process remains ongoing.