Gumap

Gum-ap / Gum'ap / Goomap 

Description & Location

The name of the area along the Buneenboro (Perth Water) where the Elizabeth Quay is now situated. Gumap extends northward to the foot of the slope leading up to Saint Georges Terrace near the Gooloogulup site. 

Oral history associates Gumap as the place that smells like urine. Despite its smell, Gumap was once an important place for catching djildjit (fish) in amongst rush beds and salt marshes. For Noongar people, fishing was mainly carried out by maam (men), whilst yorga (women) and koolangka (children) gathered yurenburt (berries), smaller animals, yams, and quandongs.  

It is recorded that Noongar people camped at Gumap around the time of European contact. The Noongar people would light fires (kaarla) at night on the riverbank, making it possible to see and catch the djildjit living in those waters.

The site remains highly important to Noongar people today. Standing at the site of Elizabeth Quay is a giant sculpture of a bird in a boat by renowned Noongar artist Laurel Nannup. Titled ‘First Contact’, the work depicts the arrival of Europeans to Perth, who the Noongar people, at first, believed to be their past ancestors returning from the sea. 

References

Aboriginal Perth (1929, July 4). Western Mail, p. 70. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38887581.

Bates, D. Manuscript 365/4/174, Notebook 20, p. 57.

Bates, D.  Manuscript 365/4/179, Notebook 20, p. 63.

Bates, D. (1909, December 25). Oldest Perth. Western Mail, p. 16. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37401699.

Bolleter, J. (2015). Take Me To The River: The Story Of Perth’s Foreshore. Crawley, WA: University of Western Australia.

Collard, L. (2014). This City Is Wadjak Country: Aboriginal Heritage In The City Of Perth Before 1829. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/nadia.khalil/Downloads/Walking%20Tours_%20This%20city%20is%20Wadjuk%20country_PDF%20(5).pdf.

Government of Western Australia Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority. (n.d.) First Contact. Retrieved from https://www.mra.wa.gov.au/see-and-do/elizabeth-quay/attractions/first-contact.

Hughes-Hallett, D. (2011). Indigenous History of the Swan and Canning Rivers. Perth, WA: Swan River Trust, p. 42.

State Library of NSW. (1899). Box 5 Folder 1: Western Australian Place Names, 1899-1903, p. 28.

State Records Office of WA. Cons993. 1948/0150. List of native names for naming farms, etc., p. 149.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

State Records Office of WA. Cons1496. 1932/0740. List of Aboriginal words showing translation.

Maps

State Records Office of WA. Cons993. 1927/0038. Plan of Prohibited Area, Perth.