Yellagonga

See also: Aboriginal history of Western Australia

Yellagonga (d. 1843) was a leader of the Whadjuk Noongar nation. He had two wives (Windan and Yangan), three sons (Elal, Due, and Dower), and three daughters (Daleer, Gargap, and Morap).[1] His land was part of the Mooro district, which extends to the ocean to the west, the Melville and Swan rivers to the south, Ellenbrook to the east, and Moore River (Gyngoorda) to the north.[2] Colonists saw Yellagonga as the owner of this area. However, land rights are described as belonging to both men and women, with Yellagonga and his family sharing rights to their land.[1]

Yellagonga's favourite camping place (kaleep) was Goodinup (the foreshore between William and Barrack streets in what is now the Perth CBD).[2] Goodinup was significant because it had three water sources; a spring, the swampy margins of the Swan River, and the river itself.[2] Yellagonga and his mob were the last Noongar people in a long historical line to camp there due to colonisation.[2] Yellagonga was also known to camp at Galup.[2]

In 1843 the settler press reported that "the mild, amiable Yellagonga acknowledged by the natives as the possessor of vast tracts of land between Perth and Fremantle, is no more. He fell from a rock on the river's bank, and was drowned".[3][4]

Heritage

Yellagonga Regional Park, around Lake Joondalup, was named after him.[5]

In 2018, Mia Yellagonga ('place of Yellagonga') was chosen as the name of the Woodside Energy Global Headquarters Campus bounded by Mounts Bay Road, Spring Street, and Mount Street (the former Emu Brewery site) in the Perth central business district.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Collard, Len; Harben, Sandra; van den Berg, Rosemary (2004). "Nidja Beeliar Boodjar Noonookurt Nyininy: A Nyungar Interpretive History Of The Use Of Boodjar (Country) In The Vicinity Of Murdoch University". Murdoch University.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hughes‐Hallett, Debra (2010). Indigenous History of The Swan and Canning Rivers. Curtin University.
  3. ^ "Death of the King of Perth". The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal. Vol. 11, no. 540. Western Australia. 10 June 1843. p. 2. Retrieved 25 May 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Swan River". Port Phillip Gazette. Vol. 5, no. 480. Victoria, Australia. 23 August 1843. p. 2. Retrieved 25 May 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Yellagonga Regional Park". Explore Parks WA. Perth, WA: Department of Parks and Wildlife. 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Mia Yellagonga, Woodside's new home". Woodside. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2020.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.