Fremantle Dockers pitch invader “flags” Woodside destruction of Indigenous culture and our climate at the Burrup Hub

A fan has stormed the pitch at the Fremantle Dockers vs Geelong game at Optus Stadium this afternoon to protest the destruction of Indigenous cultural heritage and the climate at Woodside’s Burrup Hub.

During the second quarter of today’s game, Emil Davey, a musician and West Australian Academy of Performing Arts student, jumped over the Woodside advertising hoarding and onto the football pitch with a large yellow flag, disrupting play for several minutes.

Mr Davey was protesting the sponsorship of both the Fremantle Dockers and the AFL Indigenous Round by Woodside, who have destroyed thousands of sacred Murujuga rock art sites during construction of their Burrup Hub mega-project.

The Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign is calling for no more industry on the Burrup or offshore. Disrupt Burrup Hub are holding an open meeting on June 1 as the campaign expands and opens up to new recruits.

A Disrupt Burrup Hub press conference will be held outside Optus Stadium at half time in today’s game featuring Disrupt Burrup Hub supporters and Fremantle fans by Nicky Winmar's statue (between Gate D and The Camfield).

Speaking before he invaded the pitch with yellow flag and flares this afternoon, Emil Davey said:

“I'm flagging the hypocrisy of Woodside sponsoring Indigenous Round while simultaneously destroying Indigenous culture on the Burrup. We can't keep letting Woodside buy their way out of cultural and climate crimes. Woodside proudly put their logo on every cultural icon under the West Australian sun - including our footy team and the entire AFL Indigenous Round - while at the same time continuing oppression of Indigenous cultural heritage. The 6 billion tons of toxic emissions from Woodside's Burrup Hub is not just destroying our climate into the future, it's also damaging sacred Murujuga rock art right now."

As Mr Davey invaded the pitch during the first quarter, Ballardong Noongar cultural man and former football player Desmond Blurton said:

"Woodside puts their logo on Fremantle Dockers and here on Indigenous Round here, while desecrating Murujuga rock art on the Burrup. How ironic? The removal of rock art goes against international best practice in heritage conservation. This atrocity was committed by Woodside, and now Perdaman has followed suit. I respect the supporters attending this round, and I feel the need to inform them about what Woodside is doing to Murujuga rock art as we speak."

The Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia is known as Murujuga to traditional custodians, a deeply sacred place that contains the largest, oldest collection of Aboriginal rock art in the world. This priceless cultural treasure is currently nominated for UNESCO world heritage listing, but the sacred songlines and stories contained in these carvings are being damaged by emissions from the Burrup Hub and face total destruction within decades.

Woodside's Burrup Hub is the biggest new fossil fuel project in Australia. It consists of the Scarborough and Browse Basin gas fields, the Pluto Project processing plant, and other linked liquified natural gas (LNG) and fertiliser plants on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s remote north-west Pilbara region. The Burrup Hub is projected to produce more than 6 billion tons of CO2 by 2070, making it four times larger than the Adani coal mine and one of the biggest carbon bombs in the world.

On January 19, Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and illustrator from Perth, sprayed the Woodside logo in yellow painton the colonial masterpiece ‘Down on His Luck’ at the Art Gallery of WA. The protest was subsequently endorsed by most descendants of ‘Down on His Luck’ painter Frederick McCubbin. Last Monday February 13, punk musician Trent Rojahn coated the Woodside building with a fire extinguisher full of high-pressure yellow paint and sprayed the slogan ‘Disrupt Burrup Hub’ across the glass at the entrance to Woodside’s corporate headquarters.

On April 28, Gerard Mazza and Tahlia Stolarski were charged with Aggravated Burglary after attempting to evacuate the Woodside AGM in Perth using harmless stench gas and smoke flares. On May 3, environmental activist Violet CoCo, the first person jailed under repressive new police powers legislation in New South Wales, sprayed the Woodside logo in yellow paint on the front of the Perth Police Centre in protest at the escalating police crackdown on climate protest in Western Australia.

The game continues…

ENDS