Dual naming
The dual naming of work locations at Western Power is done in consultation with local Elders to the area.
Perth Office meeting rooms
Western Power’s operations are carried out over the lands of 16 Aboriginal language groups. We pay respect to the Traditional Owners of these lands, and through the dual naming of meeting rooms on the ground floor of our Perth office, acknowledge their continuing culture and custodianship of the lands on which we operate.
| Aboriginal Language Groups | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Nhanda | 2 Amangu | 3 Yuat |
| 4 Wajuk | 5 Pindjarup | 6 Wardandi |
| 7 Bibbulman | 8 Kaniyang | 9 Minang |
| 10 Goreng | 11 Wudjari | 12 Nyaki-Nyaki |
| 13 Ballardong | 14 Wiilman | 15 Kalaamaya |
| 16 Wangkatha | ||
The language is now spoken or semi-spoken by only a few people. While Nhanda is usually considered a member of the Kartu branch of the Pama-Nyungan family, distinctive features of Nhanda relative to neighbouring languages have caused some linguists to question this classification and/or classify Nhanda as an isolate.
A controversial hypothesis first raised by historian Rupert Gerritsen suggests that the unusual features of Nhanda may result from undocumented language contact during the early modern era with Dutch – in the form of shipwrecked seafarers stranded in Australia before European settlement had officially begun. Gerritsen's hypothesis has been rejected by linguist Juliette Blevins, an authority on Nhanda. Gerritsen critiqued the rejection of his views by Blevins in a subsequent paper re-outlining his evidence of Dutch influence on Nhanda.
The Amangu’s territory stretched over 26,000km2 centred in the area of Champion Bay and the Chapman River. The northern boundary lay near Geraldton and the Hill River while the southern boundary is believed to have run just north of Moora. The inland extension was from the coast to the vicinity of Mullewa, Morawa and Carnamah.
Excavation at Yellabidde Cave near Leeman indicates that the Amangu territory was occupied as early as 23,000 BP putting back the accepted date for habitation of the Perth-Geraldton coast by some 15,000 years.
Yued, also spelt Juat, Yuat and Juet is a region inhabited by the Yued people, one of the fourteen groups of Noongar Aboriginal Australians who have lived in the South West corner of Western Australia for approximately 40,000 years.
At the time of European Settlement, the Yued language was one of 13 dialects of the Noongar language. The Yued language specifically belongs to Djiralay (northern dialect), one of the three main dialect groups within the wider Noongar region. The other two are Kongal-Boyal (south-eastern dialect) and Kongal-Marawar (south-western dialect).
European settlers first visited the Yued region in the 17th century, but it was not colonised until George Fletcher Moore’s visit in 1836. In 1846, Spanish Benedictine Monk Rosendo Salvado created a Catholic missionary institution housing some Yued people, which became New Norcia, the only monastic town in Australia. Later impacts of European colonisation include the introduction of governmental assimilation policies such as the Aborigines Act 1905 which prompted the creation of settlement and internment camps like the Moore River Settlement, contributing to diseases within the Yued population as well as their displacement from the region.
There are ongoing projects to preserve Yued culture including the establishment of native titles, heritage plans and active cultural community programs.
After colonisation the number of fluent Yued speakers fell due to cultural assimilation policies which prevented Aboriginal people from practising their native language. As a result, contemporary Yued people speak a dialect of the English language known as Aboriginal English with very few fluent speakers left.
There is evidence that in the 19th century, Aboriginal people living in New Norcia referred to themselves as ‘Jun-ar’, as recorded in the memoir of Rosendo Salvado.
Research suggests that at least some local Noongar people called the Yued region ‘Minnalyungar’ (a general name given by northerners, meaning ‘Southern People’), and ‘Jaburu-Jungara’ (a Whadjuk name, where Jaburu means ‘north’ by locals). However, in contemporary culture, ‘Yuat’ is used by the local people as self-descriptive name.
The approximate size of the Whadjuk region is 6,700km2 and the major cities and towns within the Whadjuk region include Perth, Fremantle, Joondalup, Armadale, Toodyay, Wundowie, Bullsbrook and Chidlow.
Throughout the Whadjuk Region there are a range of significant Noongar sites. They include Ngooloormayup known as Carnac Island and Meeandip known as Garden Island. Also Gargangara north of Armadale and Goolamrup the suburb known as Kelmscott. Noongar people may refer to Kings Park as Karra katta or the hill of the spiders or Geenunginy Bo, the place for looking a long way. Dyarlgarro Beeliar is known as the Canning River and Derbal Yiragan the Perth estuary waters.
The Whadjuk claim for Native Title was made in September 2006.
It is not clear if Pindjarup is the historically correct name for the tribe. After their disappearance the only sources for them came from Kaneang informants. The word Pindjaup may be derived from pinjar/benjar meaning wetlands or swamps and therefore ‘people of the wetlands’.
Pindjarup tribal estates extended over an estimated 4,700km2 taking in Pinjarra, Harvey and the Leschenault Estuary. They were also present on Murray River’s lower reaches.
As a people of the wetlands the Pindjarup were famed for their fish traps and six seasons cycle. They made use of environmental resources from the coastal estuaries, sand-dunes, lakes, wetlands and soils of the Darling Scarp foothills and ridgelines. Western long-necked tortoises, black swans, ducks and migratory birds formed an important part of their diet.
The Wardandi people speak a variety of the Doonan and Dwordan dialects known as Wardandi.
Wardandi traditional country covers an estimated 4,700km2. Predominantly coastal, it encompasses Busselton, Bunbury, Cape Leeuwin and Geographe Bay. Inland it reaches Nannup. The Wardandi were the sole inhabitants of the area for an estimated 45,000 years before the arrival of British colonial settlers at Augusta in 1830 and are one of fourteen language groups of the Bibbulmun (Noongar) peoples.
Wardandi traditional owners guided archaeological researchers to a spot on a granite outcrop near Flinders Bay in Augusta which was excavated and reported on in 2021. It revealed grooves and other signs that people ground stones to make tools here around 9,700 years ago.
Their name may be related to the word for stingray, pibilum.
Pibelmen lands comprised around 8,000km2 of territory in the south-western region. They were concentrated around the Lower Blackwood River and the hills between the Blackwood and the Warren River. Their eastern flank ran to Gardner River and Broke Inlet. The Scott River was also a part of their territory. Their inland extension ran to Manjimup and Bridgetown.
The Kaniyang traditional lands enclosed some 12,000km2 of territory on the Upper Blackwood River. The eastern boundary was formed by the line that runs from Katanning, Tambellup, Cranbrook and Tenterden. Kaniyang lands took in Kojonup, Qualeup, Donnybrook, Greenbushes and Bridgetown. They camped around the headwaters of both the Warren and Frankland rivers and along the southern bank of the Collie River as far as Collie.
The Minang’s traditional lands encompassed 13,000km2 from King George Sound northwards to the Stirling Range. It took in Tenterden, Lake Muir, Cowerup and the Shannon River area. Along the coast their territory ran from West Cliff Point to Boat Harbour, Pallinup. Mount Barker, Nornalup, Wilson Inlet and Porongurup Range were also part of their territory.
The Minang were divided into hordes. A northerly group of these, known as the Munite, perhaps may refer to the ‘White Cockatoo’ tribe.
One of the most famous singers of the Noongar peoples was a Minang man, Nebinyan, who had worked as a hand on a whaling ship and lived to achieve distinction as a singer of the narrative songs he wove around his experiences. A performance by Nebinyan, conveying a dance his grandfather had created to mimic what he had observed when Matthew Flinders had set foot on the southern coast a century earlier, was greatly admired.
The Minang now predominantly live in and around Albany and the surrounding south coast area of Western Australia.
The total area of lands of which the Koreng are traditional owners is 15,600km2 from the Gairdner River to the Bremer Bay inland to Jerramungup, Pingrup and west to Tambellup and Gnowangerup. Their neighbouring tribes were the Wiilman to the north, the Njakinjaki north-east, the Mineng directly south, the Pibelmen in the south-west and the Kaneang on their western flank.
The Wagyl Kaip and Southern Noongar claim for Native Title was made in September 2006.
A considerable amount of information concerning Koreng mythology was written down in the 1880s by Edith Hassell, wife of Albert Young Hassell. The manuscript was neglected until it was turned up by visiting American anthropologist Daniel Sutherland Davidson in 1930.
Davidson edited the material for the English journal Folklore over 1934–1935 and this remains an important resource for reconstructing Koreng traditions.
The Wudjari’s traditional lands are estimated to have extended over 18,000km2, encompassing the southern coastal area from the Gairdner River eastwards as far as Point Malcolm. The inland extension was to about 48km. Kent, Ravensthorpe, Fanny Cove, Esperance and Cape Arid have been developed over the old Wudjari lands.
There was a western/eastern divide among the Wudjari bands. At the earliest point of contact with white explorers it was noted that the western divisions were on the move, shifting towards Bremer Bay. The groups to the east of Fanny Cove and the Young River had adopted circumcision as part of their tribal initiatory rites, a transformation that earned them the name of Bardonjunga/Bardok among those Wudjari who refused to absorb the practice.
This customary scission, according to Norman Tindale, perhaps marked the beginning of a new tribal identity among the easterners, who had also adopted a differential name for themselves - Nyunga. These Wudjari Njunga contested the terrain between Mount Ragged and Israelite Bay with the Ngadjunmaia.
In 1855 an edited account was published of a shipwrecked castaway, called William Jackman, purporting to relate 18 months of captivity among Australian cannibal tribes somewhere on the Great Australian Bight. The story proved very popular, and the narrative seen as fascinating, but suspicions have long existed as to its authenticity. In 2002, the historian Martin Gibbs analysed both the book and its historical background and context, and concluded that some elements certainly bore traces of familiarity with the Nyungar cultural block. In particular he conjectured that parts of the tale might well reflect experience of living among the Wudjari, Nyunga or even the Ngadjunmaia.
Nyaki-Nyaki traditional territory embraced 31,000km2 of land. They were east of Lake Grace, at Newdegate, Mount Stirling, Bruce Rock, Kellerberrin and Merredin. Their western frontier was through to Jitarning. Their southern reaches went as far as Lake King and Mount Madden. The eastern boundaries ran along the area close to Lake Hope and Mount Holland.
The Ballardong’s land encompassed an estimated 27,000km2. Northwards they occupied the Avon River. From York to the east they extended to Tammin, Kununoppin, Waddouring Hill, Bencubbin, Toodyay, Goomalling and the Wongan Hills. On their southern flank lay Pingelly and Wickepin. Their western frontier was at the Darling Scarp.
The Ballardong engaged in mining quarrying stones to be shaped and sharpened for knives and multi-barbed spears at Kalannie Boyangoora, Booyungur.
Their original language also known as Wiilman is extinct and poorly documented but is generally believed to have been part of the Nyungar subgroup.
The Wiilman originally occupied an estimated 17,000km2 of territory, taking in the future sites of Collie, Boddington, Pingelly, Wickepin, Narrogin, Williams, Lake Grace, Wagin, and Katanning. The northern boundary is from around Wuraming, through Gnowing - north of Wandering and Dattening to Pingelly. The eastern boundary included Wickepin, Dudinin and Lake Grace. In the south the boundary included Nyabing - originally Nampup, Katanning, Woodanilling and Duranillin.
Ethel Hassell wrote extensively on the ‘Wheelman tribe’, her term for the Wiilman, but her manuscript was neglected until the American anthropologist Daniel Sutherland Davidson came across it while researching Australian archives in 1930. Davidson arranged for Hassell’s work to be published in instalments in the journal Folklore (1934-1935). According to Norman Tindale, much of the material ascribed to the Wiilman was gathered from their southern neighbours, the Koreng and actually reflects Koreng culture.
A variety called Nyaki Nyaki, also Njakinjaki has been said to be a dialect of Nyungar or of Kalaamaya. Natingero has also been listed as a dialect but it is only 40 per cent lexically similar.
Kaprun elder Brian Champion who learned the language as an adult is the single remaining fluent speaker, in addition to several partial speakers.
The Wangkatja language groups cover Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Menzies, Leonora and Laverton. These towns encompass the north-eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
The term wangai/wongi derives from a verbal root meaning ‘to speak’.
Wangkatha is still spoken and has roughly 200-300 fluent speakers. Most speakers reside in their traditional country including Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Menzies, Leonora, Laverton, Cosmo Newberry and Mulga Queen. The eight tribes who speak Wongi as a collective also have their own distinct dialects which are also their tribes.
The Wongi were active in their traditional country showing European and British explorers their country, notably water and precious minerals. They showed Irish explorer Paddy Hannan his first gold nugget. Being a valuable stone, the Wongi worshipped it due to their traditional Tjukurrpa (Dreaming lore) under their traditional practices and governance systems. Still today, the Tjukurrpa is respected and highly revered. They sporadically fought white settlers who came to the area for gold in the 1890s.
During the early 1900s the Wongutha/Wangkatha were considered the ‘most fierce, wild and untameable’ of all Aboriginal people in Western Australia. The Australian Government did not know what to do with these people. Therefore, white missionaries from New South Wales travelled to Western Australia to establish an area that is now known as the Mount Margaret Aboriginal Community. Many of the Aboriginal people who are of the Wongutha/Wangkatha language were part of Mount Margaret. All Aboriginal people who were placed in Mount Margaret were educated by the western system and learnt about Christianity.
There came other neighbouring language/tribal groups who spoke similar languages and shared Tjukurrpa, such as the Pitjantjatjara and the Ngaanyatjarra. Other foreign language groups with different languages and customs were also placed at Mount Margaret Mission, they included Ngadju, Tjupan and Mirning.
Depot location dual naming
Vasse Depot | Mulgarup / Balbarignup (Place of thunder/ Place of lightning)
The Wadandi Boodja Cultural Custodians have given the name, Mulgarup / Balbarignup (thunder / lightning) to the depot in Vasse.
This was an Aboriginal camp and healing site. The Mulgarup / Woddidup Mission was built at this site in around 1887, knowing the Aboriginal people travelled there to gather and live along the banks of the river. The mud-brick building was named after the thunder and the river nearby, where the Aboriginal people would visit, as mulgarup (thunder) brings healing (rain) to Country, and the Mission was known as the place of healing / medicine, near the bilya (river).
The name originates from the songline of the connection between Boodja and the Ironstone Ridge, (conductor of lightning / electricity) along the Yalyal-Witcher escarpment, down to Undalup (Busselton), where the land meets the sea.
The Ironstone Ridge and outcrops occur along the songline where the electrical storms would rage during the change of season. The power discharge is concentrated over the ironstone where it goes straight to Boodja.
Along this songline is a culturally significant site close to the Sabine River where the Woddidup Creek is the main tributary to the river.
Albany Depot | Kinjarling Pindjarri (Albany, power and lightning)
Kinjarling is the Noongar name for Albany as has been recorded in history, and therefore very fitting.
Pindjarri is the Noongar name for power and lightning, which many local Elders learned through story shared with them as small children.
Aboriginal Engagement Consultant Brad Collard worked with 2021 West Australian of the Year and Goreng Noongar woman Karla Hart, whose bloodlines run through Minang country. Together Brad and Karla consulted with the local Minang community and Elders to select the Aboriginal name for the depot.
South Metro Depot | Boyli Mia
Boyli Mia means Power House in Noongar, and has been built for strength and energy, with the capacity to drive major change. We worked with local Noongar Elders to arrive at this name, and Boyli Mia features the work of incredibly talented Noongar artists Bradley Kickett and Buffie Corunna.