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Place Names Melville

Weaving together community-held knowledge and academic research, Place Names uncovers and unpacks the original meanings of Noongar placenames in the City of Melville, and harnesses contemporary art forms to celebrate Noongar language, heritage and culture.

In 2022 the first phase of Place Names Melville saw local Elders and First Nations community members decode and creatively explore three place names: Goolugatup (Heathcote), Willagee and Jenalup (Blackwall Reach). This first phase culminated with the creation of multi-layered, multi-media collaborative artworksand poems capturing the community’s connection to boodja.

Over the last 18 months, phase two of the project has built upon the success of the first iteration and, with the support of Lotterywest, decoded and creatively explored 14 Noongar placenames in the City of Melville.

Involving an artist team of 13, and engaging with 54 First Nations participants and 30 students from Brentwood Primary School, over 100 artworks have been produced.

With a process that honours and celebrates the knowledge of Elders and a commitment to sharing the use and meaning of Noongar placenames with the broader community, Place Names Melville contributes to a national movement of truthtelling, healing and reconciliation. Intergenerational learning and a focus on amplifying and celebrating Noongar language and culture sit at the heart of this powerful project.

Place Names Melville is a means for the Aboriginal community to express their culture and their deep connection to the land, but it's also an opportunity for the non-Aboriginal people to learn about the culture that thrived here long before settlement.
Noelene Mantellato, City of Melville, Place Names Melville Project Coordinator
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Animation - Photographer Tashi HallDoontanboro Kura Exhibition - Animation - Photographer Tashi Hall
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Fireside Friday - Photographer Hugh SandoDoontanboro Kura Exhibition - Fireside Friday - Photographer Hugh Sando
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Mapping Boodja - Photographer Hugh SandoDoontanboro Kura Exhibition - Mapping Boodja - Photographer Hugh Sando
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Closing Celebration - Photographer Tashi HallDoontanboro Kura Exhibition - Closing Celebration - Photographer Tashi Hall
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Clay Stamps & Eco-dyed Textile - Photographer Hugh SandoDoontanboro Kura Exhibition - Clay Stamps & Eco-dyed Textile - Photographer Hugh Sando
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Animation - Photographer Tashi Hall
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Fireside Friday - Photographer Hugh Sando
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Mapping Boodja - Photographer Hugh Sando
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Closing Celebration - Photographer Tashi Hall
  • Doontanboro Kura Exhibition - Clay Stamps & Eco-dyed Textile - Photographer Hugh Sando

Phase II (2023 & 2024)

Phase II of Place Names Melville has been made possible by Major Supporter Lotterywest and will see the researching and revealing of a further 14 Noongar place names from August 2023 until October 2024.

This second phase included a series of workshops led by Professor Len Collard (Moodjar) in which the Decoding Advisory Group worked to uncover the meanings of Noongar placenames across the City of Melville. Sixteen Noongar placenames were selected from research by Dr. Dave Palmer, and by the end of the workshops, 14 of the names were fully decoded and translated.

The Decoding Advisory Group is comprised of Noongar Elders and burdiyers (knowledge holders), who scrutinised colonial records, questioning the absence of Noongar perspectives in these documents.

Noongar placenames were originally written down by wadjellas (nonAboriginal people), so over time many of the words have been misinterpreted and their meanings misunderstood.

The advisory group’s primary focus was to reinterpret these colonial records through their memories and the lens of Noongar knowledge passed down to them for generations and ask, “What do Noongars have to say about this?”

Through their collective Kaartdijin (knowledge) and as a Noongar moort (family), they sought to confirm what their ancestors had said about their boodja (land).

The decoding process followed the Darbakarn, Darbakarn model, a consensus-driven approach with three stages:
Woort Koorliny (Green - All Go!) Full agreement on the placename.
Share Multiple perspectives are accepted, and all are documented.
Darbakarn Darbakarn (Go Gently): Uncertainty or disagreement exists, so the group decides to revisit the name later.

If consensus wasn’t reached by the end of a session, the group acknowledged that further work and research was needed.

The 14 names explored in this phase are:
Aboriginal Women’s Trail at Piney Lakes Reserve, Alfred Cove, Bicton Foreshore, Booragoon Canning River, Bull Creek, Canning Bridge, Canning River Mouth, Lucky Bay, Melville Water, Point Dundar / Point Heathcote, Point Preston, Point Walter / Burke Drive, Waylen Bay Foreshore and Wireless Hill Reserve

Stay tuned for the reveal at the exhibition in October 2024 and a full report that will be released in 2025.

READ THE DOONTANBORO KURA EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
 

 Interactive Map

Centering and celebrating Noongar language and knowledge, the Place Names Melville project decodes ancient meanings embedded in Noongar place names within the City of Melville. 
PLACE NAMES MELVILLE INTERACTIVE MAP

Phase I (2022)

In 2022, Noongar Elders and community members came together to explore the meanings and stories behind three Noongar place names in the City of Melville; Goolugatup, Willagee and Jenalup (Blackwall Reach).The exhibition Ngala Bidi Wongi Boodjar – Our Paths Talking Country was launched in October 2022 and was the culmination of Phase I. 

Guided by Professor Len Collard’s extensive research, which shows that most Noongar place names are actually sentences, participants used a decoding process with specially developed word cards to break down the names and try to unlock their ancient meanings.

Noongar place names were originally written down by non-Aboriginal people, so over time many of the words have been misinterpreted and their meanings misunderstood.

CAN’s Place Names decoding process places Noongar knowledge and language firmly at the forefront of this exploration.

“What we are doing is recolonialising, because it places Noongar kaartadjin (knowledge, language and culture) as the authority and puts the historical documents written by wadjellas as secondary.” Professor Len Collard

Through language decoding workshops and creative activities, Elders and community members shared their stories, histories, culture and kaartdijin as a powerful act of reclamation. The ancient meanings of these place names are starting to reveal themselves, but further research and uncovering of Noongar kaartadjin will continue before a final consensus is reached.

View Ngala Bidi Wongi Boodjar Digital Collages

A series of eight digital collages are the collaborative artwork of individual participants, layered and reworked through creative engagement. 

Listen to Ngala Bidi Wongi Boodjar Poems

This collection of poetry captures the essence of place - a reflection of the community’s strong connection to boodjar (country).

Read Ngala Bidi Wongi Boodjar Exhibition Catalogue

 

PN-Exhibition-Catalogue-Flatlay_-LQ.jpg
 

Questions or more information?

If you have any questions or would like more information, please get in touch with the team via email: placenamesmelville@melville.wa.gov.au

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