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Session UH2: Perth histories

1. Bob Reece: The Urban Frontier: Perth, 1829-1841

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Abstract

This paper examines what might be called the 'urban frontier' in early Perth. Although we are accustomed to using 'frontier' to describe the furthermost fringes of settlement, the cutting edge of colonisation if you like, this is a North American idea with limited application to the Western Australian context. Even the rapid pastoral expansion from the early 1830s in the Murray, Avon Valley and Albany districts encompassed Aboriginal groups rather than driving them out. During the first phase of agricultural settlement of the Swan Valley, Aboriginal groups were attracted to Perth by the novel spectacle of the new arrivals and their exotic possessions, by the availability of food and by the prospect of forming alliances with the more effectively armed Europeans (perceived as their reincarnated ancestors) against their traditional enemies. St George's Terrace, then, became the main arena of interaction between Aborigines and settlers. As settlement drove away native fauna, destroyed other traditional sources of food such as tubers and limited Aboriginal access to waterways by means of fencing, Aboriginal dependence on the settlers for sustenance altered old migratory patterns and ensured a permanent and burgeoning Aboriginal presence. Inevitably, perhaps, this led to tensions and conflicts among Aborigines themselves as well as with the townspeople, and ultimately a call by the latter to government to expel the former. And it was key Aboriginal figures, such as the extraordinary Miago, who were called upon to carry this out in their capacity as 'native constables'.

Author Bio:

BOB REECE is Professor in History at Murdoch University. A founding editor (together with Dr Diane Barwick) of the journal Aboriginal History, his first major publication was Aborigines and Colonists (1974) a pioneering work on race conflict in pastoral New South Wales. Going on to write about early contact and conflict in Swan River Colony, his seminal artiicle 'Inventing Aborigines' also influenced many writers. He was a major contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia and most recently completed a biography of Daisy Bates. He is currently serving his third term as History specialist on the AIATSIS Research Advisory Committee.

2. Sandra Harben: Re-Exploring Noongar Histories of Perth: Yeye mila boorda, Kura “from the present to the past”

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Abstract

Re-exploring the Nyungar histories of Perth highlights that the urban areas of Perth are  places where Nyungar once loved, fought, hunted, gathered and foraged for food in the surrounding countryside; conducted their cultural and social rites and ceremonies; and found spiritual sustenance in their religious beliefs.  Whadjuck/Balardong Dorothy Winmar said: “I do know they are my relations. They come from the same tribe and that tribe is the Whadjuck tribe and they come from the Swan River and Kings Park right down to Fremantle” (Winmar 2002).   Pindjarup Dr Richard Walley stated that: “I can go right back to, say, the Perth connection, or the connection from around this area goes right back to my great-great grandmother, Fanny Balbuck, who was actually born on Heirisson Island. Her family used to go between Heirisson Island right up to Kings Park and then they would come south, right around to this area here near Bibra Lake, following the swamps more than anything else”.  Whadjuck/Balardong Sealin Garlett reminds us that: “my Grandma (Yurleen ) used to say this  was to be passed on to her children and her grannies... there are places where you find serenity; where you find a sense of belonging … that this is a part of our place, this is a part of our area, our culture. Nitcha boodjar koonyarn nitcha koorl buranginy boodjar karluk maya koonyarn wah. Deman deman and maam wiern kia moort koonyarn. Deman and maam noonookurt, boodjar koonyarn karla koorliny. Koorlongka boorda gneenunyiny.  Those words say that this is my country where I belong. This is deman and maam, my grandmother and grandfather’s land, this is their land where their spirits move now. Boorda or later on, this is going to be the responsibility of my children and my children’s children, their home and this place will always be linked to their spirit.  Finally, “Keeper of the Stories” Tom Bennell said, in 1978, that “the Nyungar never call it Western Australia. Ngulla boodjar, our land, they call this ngulla boodjar our land, he said. Nitcha ngulla koorl nyininy. This is our ground we came and sat upon (Bennell 1978 a).   Kura, yeye mila boorda “from the past to the present”.

Author bio:

Sandra is a Whadjuk Ballardong Nyungar woman from the southwest of Western Australia. She has an interest in Australian Indigenous History with a focus on Nyungar culture.  She has conducted extensive research and produced reports, journal articles and chapters in books about Nyungar culture.  Some of her projects have included making films in which she is acknowledged as the co-producer or scriptwriter and assisted in the development of the “Nidja Beeliar Boodjar” Murdoch University Website.   Her other work includes a literature review “Recording Traditional Knowledge”  for the Avon Catchment Council,  Noongar of the Beeliar (Video), Nyungar Tourism in the Southwest of Western Australia : A Case Study Analysis” and developed the  curriculum for the Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre at Murdoch University “Introduction to Nyungar Cultural Studies” Sandra has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia in Industrial Relations and Geography and minors in History and Anthropology.  She was also awarded the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overseas Study Award in 1996.  She undertook research work at the University of Illinois, USA and then continued her travels to South America, Europe and Asia as part of her cross cultural learning.

3. Neville Green: Traditional and post colonial shifts in the Indigenous population of Perth Western Australia 1837 -1991

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Abstract

The Perth metropolitan area is situated within the traditional lands of the Nyoongar * people and for much of the period reviewed in this article, I am discussing the migration, or change of residence, of the Nyoongar to the Perth district. During the 2006 Native title claim over Perth there was legal argument as to whether a claimant must place an ancestor in Perth in 1829 or merely prove Nyoongar descent from that year. European settlers took up land in the Perth metropolitan area in 1829 and this paper traces changes in the Indigenous population, beginning with the incomplete 1837 name census by Francis Armstrong which identified 188 persons, and concluding with the national census figures of 1991 which offers a metropolitan total of 11, 744 Aboriginal people. When the limited census data is graphed across this span of 154 years, there are dips that may reasonable be attributed to introduced disease and spikes that suggest the movement of people into the metropolitan area. For example, there is doubling of population in the decade after 1847 and then a dip in 1891 to a recorded fifty-nine persons. During this period, the European population stagnated when compared with the eastern cities such as Adelaide which, in 1880, had double the total population of Western Australia. In the three decades after 1880, the rail system extended from Perth east to Kalgoorlie, south to Albany and north to Geraldton and the European population of Western Australia accelerated from 20,000 to 200,000. Land along the railways became freehold farms and signaled a reduction of land for traditional economic and cultural activities. Hundreds ofNyoongar came onto southern town reserves or moved towards the greater metropolitan area that remained mostly undeveloped Crown land until after the Second World War. There they established semi-permanent camps near some of the many lakes and swamps. In the forty-nine years after the passage of the Aborigines Act, 1905, the free migration of families and individuals to the metropolitan area was strictly controlled and Perth, from 1928 to 1954, was proclaimed a prohibited area barred to unauthorized Nyoongar. This period saw an increase in the forced migration of children to institutions such as Sister Kates Cottage Homes. The final and most significant migration to the metropolitan Perth begins in 1954 with major shifts in Aboriginal administration and policy.
* Nyoongar is only one variant.

Bio:

Dr Neville Green

Neville Green is a Perth born professional historian, author and consultant specialising in Aboriginal history, education and cultural change. His first Ph.D. was a study of violent encounters in the Kimberley district and his second Ph.D. traced the history of Aboriginal access to government schools in Western Australia. Neville's authored, edited and co-edited books include, The Forrest River Massacres, Desert School, Nyungar the People, Broken Spears, Vlase Zanalis: Greek Australian Artist, Commandant of Solitude and three volumes of   biographical dictionaries of Aborigines associated with  Albany, New Norcia Mission and Rottnest Island Prison.