Yoondoorup

Yoonderup / Yoon'doorup

Description & Location

Yoondoorup is the name of a former island situated to the north-east of Heirisson Island that now forms part of the Burswood Peninsula. Prior to the reclamation process it was the northernmost island to the Kakaroomup and Goonagar islands associated with the mud flats of Matta Gerup. 

The site is an important part in the creation journey of the Waugyl, the giant rainbow snake of Noongar Dreaming. When the Waugyl tunnelled west towards the ocean, creating the bilya (Swan River), he became stuck in the mud flats and had to shake his scales off in the mud to get through to Buneenboro (Perth Water).

Fanny Balbuk, a well-known Noongar historical figure who passed away in 1907 at the age of 64, worked with the ethnographer Daisy Bates, who recorded that Balbuk’s grandmother was born on the island. Balbuk’s wealth of knowledge on the geography of the Perth region informed much of Bates’ research in the area. 

The swamps and shallow lakes in the islands of Goonagar, Kakaroomup and Yoondoorup provided hunting and fishing grounds for large numbers of Noongars. Bush tucker, such as the edible interior rhizome root of yanjidee (bulrushes), filled the waterways of the Swan Coastal Plain and was collected by Noongar women using wanna (digging sticks), during the Noongar season of Djeran (April-May). 

Bulrush filled the mud flat islands for much of the twentieth century, with Aboriginal people continuing to regularly camp amongst these reeds up until the early 1970s.

References

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

Bates, D. Manuscript 365/4/178, Notebook 20, page 57a.

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

Bates, D. Manuscript 365/4/181, Notebook 20, page 68.

Bates, D. (1907, June 1). Fanny Balbuk-Yooreel. Western Mail, p. 44. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37393844.

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

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

Macintyre, K. & Dodson, B. (November 2017). Typha Root: An Ancient Nutritious Food in Noongar Culture. Retrieved from https://anthropologyfromtheshed.com/project/edible-roots-typha-bulrush/.

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages WA. Death in the State of Western Australia: Fanny, 1907. 

Burswood Park Board. (2019). Burswood Park, Our History.