Perth's Aboriginal history

The Aboriginal people of the Perth area belong to the southwest region and are referred to by various names. The best known are Nyoongar, Nyungar, Noongar, Wajuk and Wudjari. The country along the Swan River was rich and allowed a high density of Aboriginal people.

Life, contact and war

Living conditions

The climate in winter (makuru) is cool and moist and the Aboriginal people adapted to it by wearing kangaroo skin cloaks and building weatherproof huts (when they stayed longer).

Contact with white settlers

It was not before 1825 that the Nyoongar of the Perth area had contact with white people. A military base was established in King George Sound and the Swan River area was subsequently colonised. The area that was occupied by the settlers had a great ceremonial and economic significance to the Nyoongar, and the spreading of the settlers led in 1834 to the "Battle of Pinjarra" in which a lot of Aboriginal people were murdered.

Aboriginal resistance

Aboriginal resistance was led in the early 1830s by people like Yagan and Calyute. The whites tried to break their war by imprisoning them on Rottnest Island or sending them to remote missions like Moore River (which became famous through the blockbuster "Rabbit-proof Fence") and Carrolup.

In 1994 Aboriginal elder Ken Colbung discovered Yagan's head in a cemetary in Liverpool, England. Ensign Dale, one of the first Europeans to explore the Swan River area, had taken his remains from the Swan River in 1833 [2].

You can visit the statue of Yagan on the west end of the south island of Heirisson Island.

Related content

• Aboriginal history timeline
• More about Aboriginal people

Old Swan Brewery - a Dreamtime place

An important site for the Indigenous people is the former Swan Brewery, a place attributed to Waugal (or Wagyl, Wagal, Wagul, Uocol), a Dreamtime ancestor who formed the bed and hills of the Swan River. The Swan Brewery is believed to be built on a sacred site known as Goonininup.

Built in the 1890s the brewery ended production in 1966 and the site remained vacant for serveral decades. When plans were made for its redevelopment, the plans were discussed heavily not only between white institutions (such as the state government and the WA Museum) but also between Aboriginal groups. Robert Bropho, a Nyoongar leader, even took the WA government to the High Court and won his case. The High Court's ruling said that the site was not exempt from the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

Regardless, WA Premier Carmen Lawrence decided to push through with development and in 1992 the site was redeveloped. The decision sparked long and violent protests of both Aboriginal people and their white supporters. In an unusual move unions of the construction, mining and energy workers went against the ALP government of that time and supported the Noongar people in placing work bans on any redevelopment activity [1].

Unmoved the WA government went ahead and redeveloped the site. Today the Old Swan Brewery site is a prime piece of real estate and houses a restaurant, offices and a gallery.

Resources and further information

Northbridge: A meeting place still

Inner-city Northbridge, just a few hundred metres north-west from the CBD, was and still is a traditional meeting place for Nyoongar Aboriginal people and the hub of Nyoongar social and political acitvity for the past 50 years.

For example, you'll find the Aboriginal Advancement Council building in this area.

[1] National Indigenous Times, 1/11/2007, p.19 [2] Ken Colbung eulogy, 1/2010