Murujuga Rock Art

Murujuga, the peninsula and islands near Karratha in the Pilbara, is covered in engravings. Images were pecked into the hard red rock across an immense span of time: faces, marine animals, land animals, human figures, and species that no longer live in the region. Estimates of the number run into the hundreds of thousands, though nobody has counted them all. The park is managed with the Traditional Owners, and the main public access is the Ngajarli boardwalk, running through a gorge with engraved boulders piled on both sides. Ranger-guided walks explain how to look at them and which stories can be shared. It is stark country: red rock stacked in heaps, blue water, almost no shade.

What you actually see

• The Ngajarli trail - a boardwalk through a gorge lined with engraved boulders on both sides.
• Marine and land figures - fish, turtles, birds and animals pecked into the rock surface.
• Human and face motifs - figures and faces among the most recognisable images here.
• Ranger-guided walks - tours led by Traditional Owner rangers explaining what is shown.

When to go

May to September is the workable season; from October the Pilbara heat is severe and walking on bare rock in the middle of the day is dangerous. Early morning gives low-angle light, which makes the engravings far easier to pick out than flat midday sun does. Tours run on set days and need booking through the park operators in Karratha.

Honest expectations

There is no shade, no water and no shelter along the trail, and heat reflects off the rock at you. Many engravings are hard to spot until someone points them out, so without a guide you will walk past most of them. The peninsula also carries gas plants and port infrastructure, visible from the road in. Karratha is an industry town with prices to match.

Nearby

Karratha and Dampier are the bases; the Millstream country lies inland to the south.