Beeliar Wetlands

"Nyungar" is a general term used to describe any clan that lived “in the south-west of Western Australia”;[3] currently there are thirteen groups of Aboriginal clans still living in the area, one of which is referred to as the Whadjuk and:

identify as Nyungah. Until the Swan River colony was founded on their boodjar (country) in 1829, each moort (clan) lived within their own ‘run’, following bidi (foodlines) from the coast to the chain of wetlands and across the sandy, woodland plain to the escarpment thirty kilometres inland.[3]

These tribes have always contributed to trading in the area as a means of gathering needed materials. These clans “went as far as Uluru and the center of Australia”[4] and vice versa from the Indigenous groups in these areas.

The Beeliar clan are the traditional owners of the land before settlers arrived; they are one of the many Whadjuk clans living in and around the area that would become the Perth metropolitan region. Ancestors of the clan believe that their spirits will always be linked to the nature of the Cockburn land.[2] Ancient stories left by the Nyungar clan state that the city's many connected wetlands are represented by a rainbow serpent, referred to as the Waakal. This was known to be the wetlands modern views as the serpent weaves through Fremantle to Mandurah, where the wetlands are. “The Waakal creates the shape of the Boodjar, over, under and through the earth and gives foundation to the meaning of life in Cockburn.”[2]

In Australia, Aboriginal history stretches “well over 40,000 years”.[5] In Western Australia the Nyungar people used to control and live on this land during that time. The name Nyungar is given to anyone who “occupied and continue to occupy the whole South West”[6] of Western Australia. The word Nyungar is accepted as the meaning for "people" or "person" in the indigenous language; common modern spellings include "Noongar", "Nyungah" and "Nyoongar", however they all translate to the same meaning. The Beeliar people were “one of the clans of Whadjuk group of Nyungar”.[5] Beeliar was later found to translate to "river people" as the tribe used to occupy the land nearest to the river, the land we now know as the City of Cockburn is where the Beeliar used to live; they referred to is as Beeliar Boodjar, "boodjar" meaning country. “Words in the Nyungar language can be written in many different ways due to regional dialectic differences and the absence of a common orthography.”[4]

The extension to Roe Highway known as Roe 8 had been planned to pass through the Beeliar Wetlands. There had been significant opposition to the highway, including legal challenges and public protests.[7][8][9] Work on the project was suspended after a change of government in the March 2017 state election, with the incoming Labor government intending to cancel the project.[10][11]

As of 18 March 2017 a group of volunteers have begun spreading mulch – from the woodchipped original trees – as the first steps toward restoring the cleared area.[12]

The Beeliar area is previously owned by the Beeliar people, therefore it has become very important to the community to preserve this land. The land of The Beeliar Land hold great significance to the original owners and their ancestors and is viewed as having great education factors for new generations, therefore any damage to this land cause some emotional distress to locals. “The plan has met with years of protests by local government, environmentalists and residents who are concerned about the economic, social and environmental issues associated with the development.”[13] A large issue people had was the damage caused by a plan to build the highway, Roe 8, the damage that building this highway would cause would take decades to restore. "Work on the first stage of the $1.9 billion Perth Freight Link, an extension of Roe Highway across the wetlands, stopped just 24 hours after the Liberal-National alliance lost power in a landslide election defeat.”[14] After being made to halt work “Opponents to the federal-backed Perth Freight Link have vowed to take their fight to the High Court after the WA government won an appeal to reverse a decision that invalidated environmental approval for the $1.9 billion project.”[15] The plan for the highway is to cut through the spiritual lands of the Beeliar wetlands but conservationists have their arms up ready to stop the first stage of work. The case that halted work on the highway case referred to as "Jacob v save Beeliar Wetlands":

“Martin CJ 's judgment in Save Beeliar Wetlands v Jacob created a significant degree of uncertainty for many state departments and statutory bodies. The primary implication being that published policies were potentially mandatory relevant considerations in their administrative decision-making processes. It presaged the urgent review of many such policies to avoid future challenges from similarly 'disgruntled parties'."[16]