Aboriginal place name mapping portal launched
Unveiled at the Midland NAIDOC event on Tuesday and delivered in collaboration with Landgate, the City is proud to support the launch of a new Aboriginal place name mapping portal as part of the Place Names Maali project.
The Aboriginal language revival project has been facilitated by Dr Len Collard from Moodjar Consulting, whose work centres around decoding Noongar language and discovering the meaning behind place names.
This project has connected local Noongar Elders and Traditional Owners to translate the place names for many locations across the City.
The approved translations have been built into an interactive online mapping portal to provide precise locations, pronunciations and informative videos about the meaning behind place names.
A panel of Noongar Elders and Traditional Owners, including members of the Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation’s Cultural Advice Committee worked together as the Maali Miy decoding group to provide language, knowledge and cultural authority to decode place names in development of the mapping tool.
John Mogridge, Aboriginal Partnerships and Development Specialist, and Karen Hayden, Aboriginal Engagement Officer, from the City attended workshops to support this work.
Place name meanings have been attributed to 18 important sites throughout the City.
Upper Swan for example, has the Aboriginal place name Wurerup, based on the Noongar words “Warr” meaning female grey kangaroo and “up” meaning place of – this name translates to “Place of the female kangaroo”, so this area is named after the Warr – the female grey kangaroo.
Place Names Maali reflects the City’s ongoing commitment to building reconciliation and strengthening relationships with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Many important sites are now appropriately recognised which is important to educate future generations about the rich Whadjuk Noongar history of the area.
To view place names and their details, visit the interactive Aboriginal place name map.
For more information about the development of the portal and work of the group, check out the video below.
Images and text from the City of Swan