Mokare

Mokare (c. 1800 - 26 June 1831) was a Noongar Aboriginal man from the south-west corner of Australia, who was pivotal in aiding European exploration of the area.

He had at least two brothers: Mollian (d. 1829), who may have been known as Yallapoli, and Nakina, who like Mokare, became a frequent visitor to the settlement at King George Sound (now Albany).

In 1826 Mokare met the crew of the French barge Astrolabe who passed the area during their voyage to circumnavigate the world.

As there was no competition between the small European population and the local Minang people for land, women or hunting, intercultural relations at Albany were largely peaceful during Mokare's lifetime.

[3] A statue was erected in Alison Hartman Gardens on York Street in the centre of Albany in 1997 as part of a reconciliation project.

It appears in colour with his name on the bottom right-hand corner of plate 8 of Dumont d’Urville, Voyage et découvertes de l’Astrolabe..., Atlas, 1833.