A full-scale replica of the Juukan Gorge cave, destroyed in 2020 by mining company Rio Tinto to an avalanche of international condemnation, will be built around the remains of the original in Western Australia’s north.
Used by Indigenous people for 47,000 years, it was blasted in 2020 in a legally sanctioned move to expand one the company’s Pilbara iron ore mines.
Five years on, an enormous feat of engineering and artistry is underway to build a realistic re-creation to then place on country as part of the site’s rehabilitation.
While the cost and timeline for completion is unclear, Rio Tinto itself is footing the bill as part of its redress agreement with Traditional Owners.
The Juukan Gorge caves in WA’s Pilbara in 2013 (L), and after the land was cleared (R) in 2020 before the site was blasted. (Supplied:Â PKKP)
Filling the void
Puutu Kunti Kurrama Land Committee chair Burchell Hayes said the new shelter aimed to restore Indigenous Australians’ sense of belonging to the area by remediating damage caused by Rio Tinto.
Burchell Hayes says preserving the rock shelter’s legacy is a priority. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
Mr Hayes said while it was unclear what cultural significance the replica would bring once it was complete, he knew his people did not want to be left with a permanent void on the landscape.
He said they were inspired “to ensure that something was placed back there to resemble what our memories of the gorge and the rock shelter looked like for us”.
“It is a significant cultural feature on our country, and we want to make sure that future generations continue to be able to come out on country and see what was possible and what was achieved.”
The goal is to recreate the original shelter as closely as possible. (ABC News: Mitchell Edgar)
Immersive experience
The project is in its early stages, but impressive results were already emerging.
In a studio in Perth’s Osborne Park, technicians developed an immersive, virtual reality recreation of the rock shelter based off a collection of about 150 photos, and the memories of Indigenous people.
The designers will use that to construct physical pieces of the cave to eventually be transported to the Pilbara and assembled on site.
You can put on a virtual reality headset and find yourself in the Pilbara looking at that cracked western wall. The digital version of Juukan is then superimposed on top. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
Daniel Browne, the director of CDM Studios, said his team created the first digital version and took it to Traditional Owners who would say they remembered a particular feature, like a specific rock, a ‘moon pool’ or a hole in the roof, and that would be added in.
“Every recollection we can get will help piece this cave together,” Mr Browne said.
Daniel Browne is working with traditional owners to get the replica as close to the original as possible. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
“This is a very, very unique challenge to build a super realistic hard scape that has to be there for hundreds of years into the future, that has to exist in that environment.”French inspiration
As part of the project, a delegation from the Puutu Kunti Kurrama (PKKP) and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation is in France visiting similar replicas of the famous Lascaux and Chauvet caves.
Located in south-western and south-eastern France, the caves are some of the most celebrated and visited prehistoric sites in the country.
Lascaux IV is an exact replica of the original cave in Dordogne. (Supplied: Lascaux.fr)
Hundreds of animal paintings on the walls of Chauvet have been dated to 36,000 years ago, and more than 17,000 years in Lascaux.
In the case of the Chauvet replica, huge steel structures were sprayed with a layer of mortar and natural pigments to create an identical copy of the original cave.
Artists then recreated each detail of the cave surface and reproduced each animal painting in detail.
Construction on the Chauvet 2 replica cave began in 2012. (Supplied: grottechauvet2ardeche.com)
The Chauvet cave cost almost $100 million ($55m Euros) and took eight years to build.
“We want to understand what went into the design and the construction … how they were able to use the original traditional methods of painting those stencils on the cave,” Mr Hayes said.
Models are being used to make sure the replica is as close to the original as possible. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
The PKKP’s director of land and heritage Denis Coutant said the French cave recreations were done to minimise damage by tourists and used 3D scans to exactly map out every feature.
The Juukan rock shelter replica has no such luxury, with the recreation relying largely on people’s memory.
Denis Coutant says the memories of traditional owners will give the project depth. (ABC News: Mitchell Edgar)
“So it does have a depth and a very sensitive meaning to it,” Mr Coutant said.
‘Tangible surface’
Adding to the challenge, traditional owners do not want steel used in the construction, because it can corrode.
Instead, Mr Browne and his team have taken “texture stamps” directly off Pilbara rocks, including remnants of Juukan, that will be turned into concrete moulds to make sections of the on-site replica.
Imprints of Pilbara rockface are being turned into concrete molds to make an on-site copy of the destroyed Juukan rock shelter. (ABC News: Mitchell Edgar)
“We worked out a way to clone the surface over so the geometry was much, much sharper,” he said.
“We want that tangible, tangible surface.”
An acrylic casting of Pilbara rock face. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
The goal is for the Juukan replica to ensure such destruction does not happen again.
“It has to be a legacy that we leave to the PKKP people and to other people in the country, and potentially even in other countries,” Mr Coutant said.
“There are First Nations everywhere in the world who have to deal with mining or large-scale projects who are suffering as well from an impact on their country, and impact on their own heritage.”
A model of a plan to rebuild a replica of the Juukan rock shelter, destroyed by mining company Rio Tinto in 2020. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
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