Landgate has launched Place Names Maali, a reconciliation, truth telling, and Aboriginal language revival project delivered in collaboration with the City of Swan and Moodjar.
The project includes an interactive online Aboriginal Place Names map containing the decoded names and pronunciations of 18 geographical locations within the City of Swan.
The Place Names Maali project was officially launched today by Minster for Lands, the Hon. John Carey MLA at the Midland NAIDOC event held at Weeip Park in Midland. This annual event brings the community together to celebrate the history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the City of Swan and more broadly throughout Western Australia.
Incorporating the language, historical and cultural knowledge gained from this process, the Aboriginal Place Names map features the locations, a brief video-history and the Aboriginal pronunciations of each geographic feature or place within the City of Swan.
Landgate’s Chief Executive Trish Scully said this project is a fantastic step forward in Landgate’s reconciliation journey, signalling the importance of Aboriginal place naming.
“The launch of Place Names Maali concludes an extensive cultural engagement process facilitated by Dr Len Collard from Moodjar, in consultation with the Maali miy which is made up of local Noongar Elders, Traditional Owners and representatives of the Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation Cultural Advice Committee,” she said.
“This process has provided an important opportunity to collaborate with the City of Swan, as well as Aboriginal leaders in our community including Dr Len Collard from Moodjar and the Maali miy group to develop and deliver this landmark project.
“Community partnerships such as this one allow us to build on our understanding and appreciation of the significance of Aboriginal place names as part of the history of our First Nations People, and importantly, to recognise those place names as known by the traditional owners, here in the City of Swan”.
For more information, visit Landgate’s website.
