History of Matagarup MATTA GERUP (MATAGARUP)
The area of mudflats and wetlands of today’s Burswood Peninsula have been known for tens of thousands of years as Matta Gerup by the local Whadjuk Nyungar people. Translated to English, Matta Gerup means ‘knee deep’ and refers to the shallow waters found at the site of the present Causeway. Originally a broad area of mudflats, islets, swamps and shallow lakes, this area in Beeloo Munday’s territory provided ideal hunting and fishing grounds and the yanjidee, or bulrushes, found throughout the river area yielded edible roots dug up by Nyungar women in the season of Djeran (April-May).
“The site is an important part in the creation journey of the Waugyl, the giant rainbow snake of Noongar Dreaming
Europeans visited and documented these mudflats from as early as January 1697 when members of Dutchman Willem de Vlamingh’s party inspected the river.
According to Museum of Perth exhibition Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili (Our Country on Paper): . 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).”
The French explorer Nicholas Baudin investigated the area in June 1801, naming the shallow island site after Francois-Antoine Boniface Heirisson, one of his expedition leaders.
Englishman Captain James Stirling viewed the site in March 1827, moving through the islets with difficulty to gain access further up the river. His later recollections of the journey stated: “March 9: From daylight on the 9th until dark the party struggled with the boats on the mudflats at Burrswood.” However, Stirling’s enthusiasm for what he had seen was part of what convinced the British government to send Stirling back to the location in June 1829 with soldiers and two shiploads of settlers and, to the dismay of the local Indigenous people, instigate the Swan River Colony on the banks of the river the Nyungars called Derbal Yaragan.
