The region was a key food and water source, where wild fowl, fish, frogs, freshwater tortoises and a range of marsupials could be captured.
They moved with the seasons, seeking higher ground further east in winter, then returning in late spring and setting fire to the bushland to capture game such as wallabies, kangaroos and possums; their main camp was at Mount Eliza in what is now Kings Park.
Initially, relations were friendly, and a number of explorers such as Robert Menli Lyon and George Grey reported on favourable encounters with groups of Mooro.
John Butler, a Swan River settler who in March 1834 went north to search for cattle pasture, reported that "the natives were those Wanneroo men who frequent Perth in company with the Yellagonga tribe – they were friendly towards us but we were cautious in letting them see our bread".
By the late 1830s, having been largely removed or restricted from the lands on which they had been self-sufficient, and decimated by European diseases and conflict with settlers,[4] the traditional lifestyle had gone into demise.