About the West Coast District
It is estimated that at least six groups of Noongar inhabited the lands around central Perth and the Metropolitan area. This region remains important for Noongar people and forms part of their Dreaming. At the time of European settlement, the Mooro people inhabited the region north of the Derbal Yaragan (Swan River).
The lake system and wetlands, from Yanchep in the North to Galup (Lake Monger) and including Ngoogenboro (Herdsman Lake) throughout the coastal dune system and the Swan coastal plain, provided a strong economic base for Noongar people. The wide variety of ecosystems, aquatic vegetation, and forests supplied fresh water, fish, birds and waterfowl along with kangaroo and other small animals for food and clothing, tools for hunting and materials, and resources for building shelters and for trade with neighbours.
Mt Eliza, known as Mooro Katta to the Noongar people, was an important meeting place.
Significant Sites along the Swan River
The following sites are known to have significance to Noongar people of the region. Descriptions of theses sites are obtained from information in public documents. This information has been drawn primarily from oral history sources including Messrs Bodney, Bropho and Colbung, and literary references such as Francis Armstrong and George Fletcher Moore (Source: Swan River, Brochure, Aboriginal Affairs Department).
The Swan River and some of its features were created by the Waugal, a creative being in the form of a snake like animal that carried out these epic features when the land and river were formed.
Burswood Shell Bed is a place where the scales of the Waugal, metamorphosed oyster shells, were scraped off due to the shallows.
Deep holes adjacent to Point Lewis and the Old Swan Brewery were also "winnaitch" (avoidance) places where the Waugal lurked and devoured or molested the unwary. In the early colonial period, Aboriginal people refused to dive to recover anchors at one of these holes for fear of upsetting the Waugal.
At Kennedy Springs and the low saddle of Mount Eliza, the Waugal is said to have left the river. Some say it created an underground tunnel all the way to Lake Monger.
Currie Bay, located between the Old Swan Brewery and Matilda Bay, was the location of a nest containing several large white rocks thought to be "Waugal eggs". Passers by would place freshly cut reeds at the nest to ensure they did not anger the Waugal.
A cave in the Rocky Bay / Minim Cove area is described as a resting place where the Waugal coiled around a central pillar.