Whadjuk - Aboriginal Camping Sites Around Perth

Aboriginal Camping Sites Around Perth

• Goonininup (Kennedy Pool), was an Aboriginal camping site from pre-contact times, sacred to the Waugal. Francis Armstrong established a "feeding station" for Aborigines there to keep them out of the streets of Perth. The Boya (or Birthing stone) there was pushed into the River by European settlers to try to prevent Aborigines accessing the site. The site was later taken by the Swan Brewery Company in the 1890s until 1966. After a protracted battle with Aboriginal people the site was redeveloped in 1992.
• Lake Monger was an Aboriginal camping site until the 1920s. When it was closed the land was used for market gardening, and the Aboriginal groups moved to Jolimont and Njookenboro (Innaloo). People from Jolimont later moved to the site of the Swanbourne Rifle Range, later resumed by the Australian Army in 1913. There was also a small Aboriginal camping site between the ABC Building in East Perth and Heirisson Island known as Mattagarup (="Leg Deep Place") for many years. They were later moved to Burswood, and then this became a garbage dump for the city of Perth, before becoming the Casino site.
• Wanneroo (= "the place were women dig yams") had a number of Aboriginal camp sites, well into the 20th Century. Orchestra Shell Cave in Wanneroo had Aboriginal paintings on the roof and walls. George Grey met Aboriginal people at Lake Joondalup when he returned to Perth.
• Welshpool was a camping site for Aboriginal people at the turn of the 20th Century. Daisy Bates conducted most of her interviews with Perth Aboriginal people here.
• Bennett Brook is significant to Aboriginal people, as it is believed that it was formed by the creative activities of the Waugal. It is said that the Waugal's resting place is a cave in the deep, still water. Python Bridge crosses Bennett Brook approximately 200 meters from its confluence with the Swan River and it is believed to be the home of an evil and dangerous spirit. Some Aboriginal families have said that camping areas existed from the Southern boundaries of this site to Bennett Swamp in pre-contact times. There is a tradition of digging wells for freshwater supplies in the western bank of Bennett Brook and a traditional fish trap supplied food for these camps. Benara Road is the southern boundary to this Aboriginal site. In the 1930s to 1960's, Aboriginal camps spread across Lord Street into the area that is now a housing estate. It is reported that burials have taken place between Benara Road and Widgee Road, however their exact location is not known.
• Aborigines from the Swan River made their campsites along Perth's central lakes to avoid the salty lakes closer to the coast. 16 aboriginal campsites have been found in the City of Cockburn
• In 1941 a group of Swan Valley Nyungah women purchased 20 acres (8.1 ha) of bushland bounded by Gallagher Street and Mary Crescent, Eden Hill. The local council refused their requests for water and applications to build housing so they camped in mia mias, bush breaks and tin camps and relied on water dug from their own wells. In the 1950s the area was resumed by the State Housing Commission for the creation of the suburb of Eden Hill.
• The Swan Valley Nyungah Community was an Indigenous Australian community of Noongar people at Lockridge, Western Australia. In controversial circumstances, the Government of Western Australia closed the settlement in 2003 by act of Parliament.
• Munday Swamp is located against the northeastern perimeter fence of Perth Airport, southwest of King Road and west of the Forrestfield and Kewdale Railway Yards. Munday Swamp was an area of ancient Aboriginal usage and had been used as a turtle-fishing ground in pre-contact times. The Melaleuca shrub offered shade and coolness to the turtle fishermen, who were known to camp there on occasions. These days, Munday Swamp lies on private property beside the Perth Airport's perimeter fence.
• Nyibra Swamp has been used by Aboriginal people from Bayswater and Bassendean areas as a turtle and gilgie fishing area from the 1920s until recent times.
• Walyunga hosts one of the largest known Aboriginal campsites near Perth, used by regional tribes for more than 60,000 years, now a National Park.
• Gnangara hosted a large Aboriginal camping site. Gnangara contained the Aboriginal Community College (K-12), founded in 1979 and closed in 2008. It was one of two independent Indigenous schools in the metropolitan area.
• Allawah Grove near Guidford was a camping site for Fringedwellers for many years. Allawah Grove had its own Administration, Women's Committee, Progress Committee and Advancement Council which took progressive steps toward advancing the conditions for Aboriginal people all over Australia. By speaking out about the progress, success and the difficulties of their community, these groups of Allawah Grove contributed to an already growing global interest in Aboriginal Affairs. Allawah Grove'€™s many achievements included establishing a Kindergarten for Aboriginal children and a Friends'€™ Centre, providing much needed community support from wider public and private services. Mothers from the community had helped set up a clothing store at the Centre, with the profits from sales funding many projects and activities. Beautiful bark paintings, which were inspired at the Centre, received world-wide acknowledgement, and became a pleasurable activity for the artists, as well as creating an industry for Allawah Grove. Allawah Grove was closed and dismantled in 1969. It is now providing temporary accommodation for transient people and is managed by Aboriginal Hostels Limited.
• Weald Square in Northbridge was often used as a camping spot by Aborigines. The Aboriginal Advancement Council established its headquarters there in the 1940s.