Whadjuk, also called
Wadjuk,
Whajook and
Wadjug, is the name according to Norman Tindale for the
AboriginalIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands, and these peoples' descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's...
group inhabiting the
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
n region of the
PerthPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 , Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average....
bioregion of the
Swan Coastal PlainThe Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature that lies directly west of the Darling Scarp, and which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. It is one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia regions...
, and extending below Walyunga into the surrounding
Jarrah ForestJarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.The name refers to the region's dominant ecosystem: Jarrah forest; that is, a tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is Eucalyptus marginata . Soils in the jarrah forest are fertile,...
s. The etymology is unknown but it has been suggested that it may come from Wirtj, meaning "those who went before" (i.e. ancestral ones), and implied that Tindale's informants considered all Whadjuk people were dead. The boundaries of this region are the watershed division north of
YanchepYanchep is an outer northern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It was built by entrepreneur Alan Bond. It is a suburb of the City of Wanneroo. Yanchep is a popular tourist destination...
between the
SwanThe Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow.-Course:...
-
AvonThe Avon River is a river in Western Australia. It is a tributary of the Swan River.Although its basin covers much of West Australian wheatbelt and extends beyond that in some areas near almost-always-dry Lake Moore in the northeast, water is received regularly from only the extreme western edge of...
and the
MooreMoore River is a river in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river near Walebing and flow westerly before joining with the Moore river East near Mogumber then flow in a westererly direction...
Rivers, in the north, the Walyunga-
GidgegannupGidgegannup is a township northeast of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. The name Gidgegannup comes from a Noongar word meaning "Place where spears are made", and was first recorded by passing surveyors in 1852....
(from Gidgie = spear, gan- = make, -up = place) region to the north east, the
Canning RiverThe Canning River is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.-Source and route:With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount...
catchment to the south east, to the coast at
Port KennedyPort Kennedy is an outer southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located within the City of Rockingham.Port Kennedy is built on Becher Point and because of its geomorphological history it is home to an unusual wetland formation, called the Becher Wetland Suite...
. This is the region of the Quindinup (from Qwenda = Bandicoot, -up = place),
CottesloeCottesloe is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Town of Cottesloe. Cottesloe was home to Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, the house he built is still stands in Jarrad street and now owned by the Western Australian Government.-Geography:Cottesloe is...
,
KarrakattaKarrakatta is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Nedlands and 7 km west of the CBD. Its postcode is 6010. Karrakatta is composed of two distinct areas. The largest is Karrakatta Cemetery, which began service in 1899, with a small industrial area on the south mostly...
(from Karra = spider, katta = hill, the location now of the Western Australian Parliament building) and
BassendeanBassendean is a northeastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Town of Bassendean.Bassendean is home to the Western Australian Rail Transport Museum. The display has a collection of Steam and Diesel Locomotives, most of these have been restored to operating...
sand dune systems and intervening
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
s, out to the fertile loams of the
GuildfordGuildford, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, was established in 1829 on the Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply. During Captain Stirling's exploration for a suitable site to establish a colony on the western side of the Australian continent the early 1820s...
area, and the
Darling ScarpThe Darling Scarp is a low escarpment running north-south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia...
to the edge of the Wandoo region, inhabited by the Balardong people to the east. To the north, according to Tindale one finds the Juat, Yued or Yuat, and to the south, the
PindjarupThe Binjareb, Pindjarup or Pinjareb is the name of the Indigenous Australian group of Noongar speakers, living in the region of Southwest, Western Australia between Port Kennedy on the coast, between Rockingham and Mandurah to Australind on the Leschenault Inlet, and between a point between Byford...
or Pinjareb peoples.
Culture and Pre-History
Before contact, the Whadjuk formed part of the
NoongarThe Noongar , are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
language group, with their own distinctive dialect. Culturally they were divided into two matrilineal
moietiesMoiety may refer to:* Moiety , a part or half of a molecule* One of two kinship groups into which a society is divided* An Australian Aboriginal kinship group* Native Hawaiian realm ruled by a Mo'i or Ali'i...
:
Wardungmaat, from
wardung ("
crowThe Australian Raven is the largest Australian member of the genus Corvus and one of three Australian species commonly known as ravens. It is a more slender bird than the Common Raven of the Northern Hemisphere but is otherwise similar...
", that is the Australian raven,
Corvus coronoides) and
maat ("
lineageLineage may refer to:In science:* Lineage , descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor...
"; literally "leg") and;
Manitjmaat, from
manitj ("
Sulphur-crested CockatooThe Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita, is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia and New Guinea. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being considered pests...
,
Cacatua galerita) and
maat. Moieties were endogamous, and children took the moiety of their mother. Each moiety also contained two "
sectionsNoongar classification refers to the classification system in tribal law by which the Noongar, an indigenous Australian people, enforced restrictions on intermarriage....
" (or "skins"): in the case of the
Manitjmaat these were
Ballarok and
Tondarup and for the
Wardungmaat, they were
Ngotak and
Naganyuk.
The length of Whadjuk settlement of this area should not be underestimated. Finds associated with this group in the Guildford region show continuous settlement going back at least 35,000 years, while stone tools recently found on
Rottnest IslandRottnest Island is located 18 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is 11 kilometres long, and 4.5 kilometres at its widest point with a total land area of 19 km². It is classified as an A...
(Aboriginal Wadjemup) have been estimated at 70,000 years old. The Whadjuk also preserved many stories of the
WagylThe Wagyl is, according to Noongar culture, a snakelike dreamtime creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning Rivers and other waterways and landforms around present day Perth and the south-west of Western AustraliaA superior being, the Rainbow Serpent created the universe and...
, a water-python held to be responsible for most of the water features around Perth.
Coastal dwelling Whadjuk informed
George Fletcher MooreGeorge Fletcher Moore was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one [of] the key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite"...
of their historical memory of the post Glacial Flandrian transgression and the separation of Rottnest from the Mainland, between 10,000–6,000 BCE. The story of this event is now kept in the
J S Battye LibraryThe J S Battye Library is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia...
.
Like other Noongar peoples, the Whadjuk seem to have moved more inland in the wetter weather of winter, returning to the coast as interior seasonal lakes dried up . The Whadjuk, like many Noongar people accepted a six seasonal division as follows:
- Birak—from November to December, was the "fruiting", characterised by the onset of hot, easterly winds which blow during the day. Noongar people used to burn mosaic sections of scrubland
Scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation composed largely of shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Scrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...
through firestick farming to force animals into the open to hunt, and to open the canopyIn biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
and allow the few November rains to increase germinationGermination is the process in which a seed or spore emerges from a period of dormancy. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the growth of hyphae from fungal...
of summer foodstuffs and marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by a distinctive pouch , in which females carry their young through early infancy.- History :...
grazing. This was the season of harvesting wattle seeds which were pounded into flour and stored as damper.
- Bunuru—from January to February, was the "hot-dry", characterised by hot dry easterly conditions with afternoon sea-breezes
A sea-breeze is a wind from the sea that develops over land near coasts. It is formed by increasing temperature differences between the land and water which create a pressure minimum over the land due to its relative warmth and forces higher pressure, cooler air from the sea to move inland...
, known locally in Western Australia as the Fremantle doctorThe Fremantle Doctor, or 'The Freo Doctor' is the Western Australian vernacular term for the cooling afternoon sea breeze which occurs during summer months in coastal areas of Western Australia...
. To maximise the effects of these cooling breezes, the Noongars moved to coastal estuaries and reefs where fish and abaloneAbalone are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
(Haliotis roei) constituted a large proportion of the seasonal diet. Mallee fowl eggs from tuart forestsTuart Forest is a national park in Western Australia , 183 km south of Perth.-Fact sheet:*Area: 20 km²*Coordinates: *Date of establishment: 1987*Managing authorities: Department of Conservation and Land Management...
also formed a part of the diet.
- Djeran—from March to April, was "first rains-first dew", with the weather was becoming cooler with winds from the south west. Fishing continued (often caught in fish traps) and zamia palm(Noongar = djiriji, Macrozamia ridlei) cycad nuts Noongar = buyu), (Nardoo Marsilia quadrifolia) bulbs and other seeds were collected for food. Zamia palm, which is naturally highly poisonous, was prepared in a fashion which removed its toxicity
Toxicity is the degree to which a substance is able to damage an exposed organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...
. Burrowing Frogs (kooyar, Heleioporus eyrei) were caught in large numbers with the opening rains of winter.
- Makuru—from May to June, was "the wet", and Noongars moved inland from the coast to the Darling Scarp
The Darling Scarp is a low escarpment running north-south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia...
to hunt Yongka, grey kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo...
(Macropus fuliginosus) and Tammar (Macropus eugeni) once rains had replenished inland water resources. This was the season of mid-latitude cold frontal rainsA cold front is defined as the leading edge of a cooler and drier mass of air, replacing a warmer mass of air.-Development of cold front:...
. Noongar Gnow (or mallee fowl (Leipoa ocellata)) were also caught.
- Djilba—from July to August, was "the cold-wet" saw Noongar groups moving to the drier soils of the Guildford and Canning-Kelmscott areas, where roots were collected and emu
The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. The soft-feathered, brown, flightless bird reach up to in height...
s (Noongar = Wej) (Dromaius novaehollandiae), ringtail possumsThe Western Ringtail Possum , or Ngwayir, is an Australian possum, a subspecies of the Common Ringtail Possum .-Description:...
(Noongar = Goomal) (Psudocheirus occidentalis) and kangaroo were hunted.
- Kambarang—from September to October, was "the flowering" at the height of the wildflower season. This time saw rain decreasing. Families moved towards the coast where frogs, tortoises and freshwater crayfish or gilgies (Cherax quinquecarinatus) and blue marron, (Noongar = Marrin (from Marr = hand, Cherax tenuimanus) were caught. Birds returning from their northern hemisphere migration also formed a part of their diet.
Whilst these Seasons were roughly divided as shown by the European months, in fact the Noongar Whadjuk took account of environmental signals such as the spring call of the Motorbike frog (Green Tree Frog (Litoria moorei)
http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/frogs/species/litoria_moorei.htm marking the onset of Kambarang, or the flowering of the Western Australian Christmas Tree (Nuytsia floribunda Loranthaceae
http://www.anbg.gov.au/christmas showing the onset of Bunuru.
Whadjuk Noongar traded high quality wilgi (red ochre) from the area of Perth Railway station eastwards as far east as
UluruUluru, also referred to as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park...
(Ayers Rock). In precontact times it was used to colour hair which was worn in what would now be called "
dreadlocksDreadlocks, also called locks or dreads, are heavy matted coils of hair which form by themselves eventually fusing together to form a single dread. This is possible in all hair types if the hair is allowed to grow naturally without grooming or conditioning for a long period of time...
". To those groups that practised initiatory
circumcisionMale circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
, this area was traditionally known as "The Land of the Boys". Quartz from the Darling Scarp was also traded with Balardong groups for the making of spears.
Contact History
The Whadjuk peoples bore the brunt of European colonisation, as the cities of Perth and Fremantle were built in their territory.
No doubt Whadjuk peoples had been familiar with Dutch explorers like
VlaminghWillem de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the southwest coast of Australia in the late 17th century....
, and the occasional visit of
whalersWhalers may mean:*Whaling, for information on sailors who hunt whales*Hartford Whalers, a former hockey team*Plymouth Whalers, a current hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League*Eden Whalers, an Australian Rules Football team...
to the coast, before the arrival of settlers under the command of
Governor James StirlingAdmiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British marine officer and colonial administrator. He was the first Governor of Western Australia and on his own initiative signed Britain's first limited treaty with Japan in 1854....
. After a near disaster at
Garden IslandGarden Island may refer to:Australia:* Garden Island, New South Wales* Garden Island * Garden Island , near PerthCanada:* Garden Island , Ontario* Garden Island , Ontario...
, a long-boat under the command of Captain (later Lieutenant Governor)
IrwinLieutenant-Colonel Frederick Chidley Irwin was acting Governor of Western Australia from 1847 to 1848.Born in 1788 in Enniskillen, Ireland, Frederick Chidley Irwin was the son of Reverend James Irwin. In 1808, he was commissioned into the 83rd Regiment of Foot...
was dispatched and met with
YellagongaYellagonga was the leader of the Whadjuk Noongar on the north side of the Swan River . Colonists saw Yellagonga as the owner of this area. However, land rights were also traced through women of the group...
and his family at
CrawleyCrawley is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Subiaco.The earlier name of the locality was Crawley Park It is home to the University of Western Australia....
, on the coast of what is now the
University of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia. Established in February 1911, it is the only university in the state to be a member of the prestigious Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone universities. The University was established under and is...
or by
Mount ElizaMount Eliza is a hill which overlooks the city of Perth, Western Australia and forms part of Kings Park. It is known as Kaarta gar-up and Mooro Katta in the local Noongar dialect....
(Noongar = Goonininup). As Aboriginal women had been earlier seized by European seal hunters, Yellagonga subsequently moved his encampment to what is now Lake Monger (Noongar = Kallup) .
The Whadjuk people were divided by the Swan River into four principal groups:
- The Mooro
The Mooro were a Nyungar Indigenous clan who lived in and to the north of Perth, Western Australia, until shortly after European settlement at the Swan River Colony in 1829. Their territory stretched from the Swan River north to the Moore River beyond the northern limits of metropolitan Perth and...
- led by Yellagonga, were north of the Swan River
- The Beeliar
Beeliar may refer to:* the Beeliar people, a now defunct group of Indigenous Australians from the area of Perth, Western Australia;* Beeliar, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth....
- led by Midgegooro - his brother-in-law, were south of the Swan River and west of the Canning River
- The Belloo led by Munday - were in the region from the Canning to the Helena Rivers.
- Weeip's area to the east .
Only four Europeans contributed to our modern understanding of Whadjuk Noongar language and culture.
- Robert Menli Lyon
Robert Menli Lyon was a pioneering Western Australian settler who became one of the earliest outspoken advocates for Indigenous Australian rights and welfare in the colony. He published the first information on the Aboriginal language of the Perth area.-Early life:Robert Menli Lyon was born Robert...
befriended the Aboriginal resistance fighter YaganYagan was a Noongar warrior who played a key part in early indigenous Australian resistance to British settlement and rule in the area of Perth, Western Australia. After he led a series of attacks in which white settlers were killed, a bounty was offered for his capture dead or alive, and he was...
, when the latter was exiled to Carnac Island.
- Francis Armstrong took early efforts to befriend Aboriginal people (being known to them as "Pranji Djanga", but later in life became very authoritarian and bitter in his dealings with them.
- George Fletcher Moore
George Fletcher Moore was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one [of] the key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite"...
rapidly came to understand the Whadjuk dialectA Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language in Common Use Amongst the Aborigines of Western Australia is a book by George Fletcher Moore. First published in 1842, it represents one of the earliest attempts to record the languages used by the Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia...
of the Nyungar language, and later came to serve as magistrate in legal cases in which Whadjuk people were involved.
- Lieutenant George Grey
George Grey may refer to:*Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet , British politician*George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent*George Grey , Governor of Cape Colony, South Australia and New Zealand*George Grey , Canadian cross-country Skier...
took great efforts to learn the Whadjuk tongue, and was recognised by the Yellagonga's Whadjuk group as being the returned dead son (i.e. Djanga) of an Aboriginal woman, before going on to a distinguished political career in South AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
and New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
.
European settlers were called
"Djanga", by the Whadjuk people, a term referring to spirits of the dead. This seems to have been an attempt to fit the Europeans into the social structure of the Moongar peoples but it seems to have been reinforced by the following principal factors:
- Europeans came from the direction of the settling sun, where Kuranyup, the land of the dead was supposed to reside.
- Europeans were white-skinned, illustrating the deathly pallor of people after death.
- Europeans seemed to have flakey discoloured skins, which they shed and changed on different occasions.
- Europeans (in the 19th century when bathing and washing clothes was rarer) smelled bad and often had rotting teeth.
- Europeans were dangerous to associate with, as infectious diseases to which Europeans had some genetic resistance, were fatal to many Aboriginal people.
Work by Neville Green in his book
Broken Spears has shown how Aboriginal culture could not explain the high death rates associated with European infections, and believed that Aboriginal sorcery was involved, leading to rising numbers of reprisal spearing and killings within the Aboriginal community. Coupled with the declining
birth rateCrude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year.According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database, crude birth rate is the Number of births over a given period divided by the person-years lived by the population over that...
s, these factors led to a collapsing population in those areas nearby European settlement.
With the loss of fenced and alienated lands, Aboriginal people lost access to important seasonal foods, and did not understand private ownership, which led to spearing of stock and digging in food gardens. Reprisals led to a cycle of increased violence on both sides. The first attempted Aboriginal massacre was the "Battle for Perth" when there was an attempt to surround and capture Aboriginal people who had retreated into Lake Monger. The area was cordoned, but the hunted people escaped. Once Lake Monger was settled by the Monger family, Yellagonga moved to
Lake JoondalupJoondalup is a northern suburb and regional city in Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Joondalup.-History:The suburb is named after Lake Joondalup, on the banks of which the suburb resides...
. In 1834 this
WannerooThe City of Wanneroo is a Local Government Area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, centred approximately north of Perth's central business district...
area was explored by John Butler, and in 1838 by
George GreyGeorge Grey may refer to:*Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet , British politician*George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent*George Grey , Governor of Cape Colony, South Australia and New Zealand*George Grey , Canadian cross-country Skier...
. With the lands seized for settlement in 1843, Yellagonga was reduced to begging for survival, and shortly thereafter he accidentally drowned, .
The situation for
MidgegoorooMidgegooroo was an Indigenous Australian of the Nyungar nation, who played a key role in Indigenous resistance to white settlement in the area of Perth, Western Australia...
was even more precarious. Violence flared when it was said 200 savages were going to attack the ferry from Fremantle, and citizens armed themselves and rushed to the site to find nothing but a bemused ferryman. A Tasmanian settler shot one of the local Aboriginal men and Yagan, Midgegooroo's son and Yellagonga's nephew, speared a white in revenge. Yagan was arrested and sent to Carnac Island in the care of
Robert LyonRobert Menli Lyon was a pioneering Western Australian settler who became one of the earliest outspoken advocates for Indigenous Australian rights and welfare in the colony. He published the first information on the Aboriginal language of the Perth area.-Early life:Robert Menli Lyon was born Robert...
who claimed he was a
freedom fighter. Yagan escaped from the island in a boat, and waged a guerrilla campaign on both sides of the river. He was eventually killed by one of two European boys he had befriended and his head was smoked and sent to England, being recovered by
Ken ColbungKen Colbung, AM, MBE , also known by his indigenous name Nundjan Djiridjarkan, is an indigenous Australian leader. The name Colbung derives from 'kalbin', a term for an Aboriginal high priest....
in 1997.
Following the
Battle of PinjarraThe Battle of Pinjarra or Pinjarra Massacre was a conflict that occurred in Pinjarra, Western Australia between a group of 60 to 80 Australian Aborigines and a detachment of 25 soldiers and policemen led by Governor James Stirling in 1834...
, Whadjuk Aboriginal people became totally dispirited, and were reduced to dependent status, settling at their site at
Mount ElizaMount Eliza is a hill which overlooks the city of Perth, Western Australia and forms part of Kings Park. It is known as Kaarta gar-up and Mooro Katta in the local Noongar dialect....
for handouts under the authority of Francis Armstrong. An Anglican school was established for a number of years at Ellenbrook, but was never very successful and was greatly underfunded.
Relations between the settlers and the natives had deteriorated badly in the final years of Stirling's reign, with settlers shooting at Aboriginal people indiscriminately for the spearing of stock, leading to payback killings of settlers. Stirling's response was to attempt to subdue the Aboriginal people through harsh punishment. When Stirling retired he was replaced as Governor by John Hutt, 1 January 1839, who rather than adopting Stirling's vindictive vengeful policies against Aborigines, tried protecting their rights and educating them. This ran foul of
frontierA frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary.-Colonial North America:In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic coast, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing...
settlers intent on seizing Aboriginal lands without
compensationA payment is the transfer of wealth from one party to another. A payment is usually made in exchange for the provision of goods, services or both, or to fulfill a legal obligation....
, who felt they needed
strongarmStrongarm may refer to:* StrongARM, a RISC microprocessor created by Digital Equipment Corporation * Strongarm , a minion of Skeletor* Strongarm , an Omnicon in the Transformers: Energon storyline...
tactics to protect themselves from Aboriginal "reprisals". In 1887 a reserve for the remaining Whadjuk people was established near Lake Gnangara, one of a whole series of wetlands which may have, within the memory of Aboriginal people here, been a series of caves along an underground river whose roof fell in. This reserve was re-established in 1975. In addition to the "feeding station" at Mount Eliza, under the control of Francis Armstrong, first "Protector of Aborigines". Hutt also tried to establish an Aboriginal yeomanry by giving Aboriginal "settlers" grants of government land. The lands chosen for this venture were marginal and Aboriginal people were expected to make improvements without giving them access to needed bank finance, so the scheme quickly collapsed. Aboriginal campsites were temporarily established at many metropolitan locations including
EllenbrookEllenbrook is a northeastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, about 21 km from Perth's Central business district , located within the City of Swan. Ellenbrook, and its neighbouring suburbs of The Vines and Aveley, are unusual for Perth in being a significant distance from neighbouring suburbs...
,
JolimontJolimont is a small suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Subiaco and west of the CBD. The suburb is believed to be named after the Melbourne suburb of Jolimont, which was in turn named after 'Jolimont' - the residence of Governor La Trobe...
,
WelshpoolWelshpool is an inner southeastern suburb of Perth, located mostly within the City of Canning. The area is considered to be one of the main industrial areas of Perth, along with Kewdale, Kwinana, Henderson, Malaga, O'Connor, Canning Vale and Osborne Park....
and Allawah Grove. These sites however were frequently moved at the discretion of European authorities once an alternative use was found for the land (as happened at
Karrakatta CemeteryKarrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, with Robert Creighton. Currently managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each...
, the Swanbourne Rifle Range and
Perth AirportPerth Airport is an Australian domestic and international airport located south of Guildford, Western Australia, and is the major commercial airport servicing Western Australia's capital city, Perth....
).
Daisy BatesDaisy Bates may refer to:* Daisy May Bates , Australian journalist, author, amateur anthropologist and lifelong student of Indigenous Australian culture and society...
claimed she interviewed the last fully initiated Whadjuk Noongar people in 1907, reporting on informants Fanny Balbel and Joobaitj, who had preserved in oral tradition the Aboriginal viewpoints of the coming of the Europeans. Fanny had been born on the Aboriginal sacred site, that underlies
St George's CathedralSt George's Cathedral is the principal Anglican church in the city of Perth, Western Australia and the mother-church of the Anglican Diocese of Perth. It is located in St George's Terrace in the centre of the city.- History:...
, while Joobaitj's sacred lands were near the current Youth Hostel at Mundaring Weir.