Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Vandals destroyed a 30,000-year-old carving at the Koonalda Cave in Nullarbor Plain in southern Australia, writing "don't look now, but this is a death cave," across the ancient artwork.
"This is quite frankly shocking these caves are some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country 20-30,000 years, perhaps older than that," South Australia Attorney General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher told ABC Radio. "This is the worst sort of vandalism I can think of," he added.
Maher said the vandals caused a "huge amount of damage" and the art is not recoverable.
"The surface of the cave is very soft. It is not possible to remove the graffiti without destroying the art underneath. It's a massive, tragic loss to have it defaced to this degree."
Maher promised that the vandals would face consequences if caught.
"It is being investigated and if there is any way we can determine who these people are they will be potentially prosecuted and face the full force of the law," Maher said. "At the moment the penalty for breaching the Aboriginal heritage act, destroying Aboriginal heritage, is up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine for an individual and we are absolutely committed to increasing those penalties that have been at that level since 1988."
Concerns were raised about vandalism of the site in June but security was not adequately improved.
The chair of the Australian Speleological Federation's Conservation Commission, Clare Buswell, made a submission to the Aboriginal lands parliamentary standing committee in July.
"The failure to build an effective gate, or to make use of modern security services, such as wildlife monitoring cameras that operate 24/7, has in many ways, allowed this vandalism to occur," she wrote in the submission.
