Noongar

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.

[b][3] The members of the collective Noongar cultural bloc descend from people who spoke several languages and dialects that were often mutually intelligible.

[6][citation needed] At the time of European settlement, it is believed that the peoples of what became the Noongar community spoke thirteen dialects, of which five still have speakers with some knowledge of their respective versions of the language.

[8] The Noongar peoples have six seasons whose time frame is defined by specific observable changes to the environment, with a dry period varying from as few as three to as many as eleven months.

The north is characterized by casuarina, acacia, and melaleuca thickets, and the south by mulga scrubland, but it also supports dense forest stands.

Several rivers run to the coast, and lakes and wetlands provided the Noongar people with their distinctive food and vegetation resources.

[18] In June 1832, a Whadjuk leader,[19] Yagan, formerly of good standing among the settler authorities and known in the colony for his handsome bearing, "tall, slender, well-fashioned..of pleasing countenance", was, together with his father Midgegooroo and brother Monday, declared an outlaw after undertaking a series of food raids and a retaliatory murder.

Similarly, struggles with Ballardong people in the Avon Valley continued until violently suppressed by Lieutenant Henry William St Pierre Bunbury.

In the same year, 1834, the Swan River Noongar couple, Migo and Molly Dobbin, alerted to the fact a European child had gone missing, covered 35 kilometres (22 mi) in 10 hours tracking his spoors, and saved him, at the point of death.

To "pacify" the Aboriginal population, men were rounded up and chained for offences ranging from spearing livestock, burning the bush, or digging vegetables on what had been their own land.

[32] Noongar people live in many country towns throughout the south-west as well as in the major population centres of Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury, Geraldton, Albany and Esperance.

Many country Noongar people have developed long-standing relationships with non-Noongar farmers and continue to hunt kangaroo and gather bush tucker (food) as well as teach their children stories about the land.

Other plays include: No Sugar, The Dreamers, Barungin: Smell the Wind, In Our Town and for younger audiences, Honey Spot and Moorli and the Leprechaun.

[41][42] Although falling most heavily upon Pilbara and Kimberley sites this government policy also was having an impact on Noongar lands according to Ira Hayward-Jackson, Chairman of the Rottnest Island Deaths Group.

[citation needed] Elders are increasingly asked on formal occasions to provide a "Welcome to Country", and the first steps of teaching the Noongar language in the general curriculum have been made.

It was painted by leading Noongar artists Shane Pickett, Tjyllyungoo, Yvonne Kickett, Alice Warrell and Sharyn Egan.

The Noongar territory also happens to conform closely with the south-west Indian Ocean Drainage Region, and the use of these water resources played a very important seasonal part in their culture.

The remainder of the larger "Single Noongar Claim" area, covering 193,956 km2 (74,887 sq mi) of the south-west of Western Australia, remains outstanding, and will hinge on the outcome of this appeal process.

In the interim, the Noongar people together will continue to be involved in native title negotiations with the Government of Western Australia, and are represented by the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.

In April 2008 the Full Bench of the Federal Court upheld parts of the appeal by the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments against Justice Wilcox's judgment.

[59] Exit polls of tourists leaving Western Australia have consistently shown that "lack of contact with indigenous culture" has been their greatest regret.

[60] As a consequence of the Stolen Generations and problems integrating with modern westernised society, many difficult issues face the present day Noongar.

The patrol uses mediation and negotiation with indigenous youth in an attempt to curb anti-social and offending behaviour of young people who come into the city at night.