The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 up to possibly 363. The Indigenous languages of Australia comprise numerous language families and isolates, perhaps as many as 13, spoken by the Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia and a few nearby islands. The relationships between the language families are not clear at present although there are proposals to link some into larger groupings. Despite this uncertainty, the Indigenous Australian languages are collectively covered by the technical term "Australian languages", or the "Australian family".
The Noongar are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. There are 14 different groups in the Noongar cultural bloc: Amangu, Ballardong, Yued, Kaneang, Koreng, Mineng, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wadandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman and Wudjari. The Noongar people refer to their land as Noongar boodja.
Heirisson Island is an island in the Swan River in Western Australia at the eastern end of Perth Water, between the suburbs of East Perth and Victoria Park. It occupies an area of 285600 m2, and is connected to the two foreshores by The Causeway. The next upstream island is Kuljak Island, then Ron Courtney Island, with no islands in the Swan River downstream between Heirisson Island and the Indian Ocean other than the artificial islet in Elizabeth Quay.
Toodyay, known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, is a town on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, 85 kilometres (53 mi) north-east of Perth. The first European settlement occurred in the area in 1836. After flooding in the 1850s, the townsite was moved to its current location in the 1860s. It is connected by railway and road to Perth. During the 1860s, it was home to bushranger Moondyne Joe.
Beeliar is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. The name refers to the Beeliar people, a group of Aboriginal Australians who had land rights over the southern half of Perth's metropolitan area. The suburb contains the Thomsons Lake Nature Reserve.
The Bindjareb, Binjareb, Pindjarup or Pinjareb are an Indigenous Noongar people that occupy part of the South West of Western Australia.
The Pinjarra massacre, also known as the Battle of Pinjarra, occurred on 28 October 1834 in Pinjarra, Western Australia when a group of Binjareb Noongar people were attacked by a detachment of 25 soldiers, police, and settlers led by Governor James Stirling. According to Stirling, "about 60 or 70" of the Binjareb people were present at the camp and John Roe, who also participated, estimated about 70–80. This roughly agrees with an estimate of 70 by an unidentified eyewitness. The attack at Pinjarra was in response to sustained aggression by the Binjarebs, including robberies and murder of settlers and members of other Nyungar tribes.
Indigenous Australian seasons are classified differently from the traditional four-season calendar used by most western European peoples. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people have distinct ways of dividing the year up. Naming and understanding of seasons differs among groups of Aboriginal peoples, and depends on where in Australia the group lives.
The Beeliar Wetlands is a wetland located in the southwest portion of Western Australia. It is made up of two chains of lakes and wetlands that run parallel to the west coast of Australia. They are situated on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Darling Escarpment and the Indian Ocean. Beeliar was the name given to the area by the Aboriginal people that lived and hunted in the area.
The Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, also known as Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre, is an Aboriginal Australian theatre company, based in Perth, Western Australia in the heart of the Noongar Nation, a cultural group from the South West of Western Australia.
Noongar is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcasting. The country of the Noongar people is the southwest corner of Western Australia. Within that region, many Noongar words have been adopted into English, particularly names of plants and animals.
Noongar Radio 100.9 FM is an Aboriginal community radio station in Perth, Western Australia.
Kylie Bracknell, formerly Kylie Farmer and also known as Kaarljilba Kaardn, is an Aboriginal Australian writer, director and actress.
Leonard Michael Collard is a Noongar elder, professor and Australian Research Council chief investigator at the School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia.
The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) is the organisation that represents the Noongar people, the Aboriginal Australians of the southwest corner of Western Australia. It was formed in 2001, and is incorporated under the Corporations Act 2006. The Council's primary role is to assist the Noongar people with native title claims and Indigenous land use agreements. It also helps support Noongar culture and heritage, and publishes the Kaartdijin Noongar website.
Corina Patricia Abraham is a Whadjuk Noongar woman. In 2016, she challenged the Western Australian Government for failure in procedural fairness during its change to the Aboriginal Heritage status of the land to be impacted by the extension to Roe Highway known as Roe 8.
Glenys Collard is a Noongar educator and writer. She was born in 1958 at Kondinin and is a member of the Stolen Generation. She is the daughter of Donald and Sylvia Collard who had nine children removed and sent to Sister Kate's when they were living in Brookton between 1958 and 1961. At the age of two she was removed from her family and placed in Sister Kate's Children's Home, Perth. Her parents sued the State of Western Australia over the poor treatment of their children while they were at Sister Kate's. This case was lost in 2013.
Indigenous treaties in Australia are proposed binding legal agreements between Australian governments and Australian First Nations. A treaty could recognise First Nations as distinct political communities, acknowledge Indigenous Sovereignty, set out mutually recognised rights and responsibilities or provide for some degree of self-government. As of 2023, no such treaties are in force, however the Commonwealth and all states except Western Australia have expressed support previously for a treaty process. However, the defeat of the Voice referendum has led to a reversal by several state liberal and national parties in their support for treaty and a much more ambigious expressed position by state Labor parties and governments.
Dorinda Rose Cox is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2021, representing the Greens. A Yamatji and Noongar woman, she is the first Indigenous woman to represent Western Australia in the Senate. She was originally appointed to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Rachel Siewert in 2021, and was then elected as the Greens' lead Senate candidate in Western Australia at the 2022 federal election.
