Lois Pearson
After three and a half years, the vision of Noongar Elder Trevor Walley to provide the people of Bullsbrook with some physical, accessible, local Indigenous heritage, has finally come to fruition – at least temporarily.
On an extremely hot day in February 2019, Elder Walley was out on country making a personal effort to save some of the evidence of the First Nations people who walked and lived in the Bullsbrook lands. This was in the vicinity the Kit-It Monger Brook (aka Kyit Munungurr), before earthmoving equipment began shifting and removing soil. The artefacts have come for a short stay within Bullsbrook Museum – their ultimate resting place will be determined by an appropriate group of First Nations people.
Elder Walley was able to collect a number of stone tools in various levels of creation, including spearpoints and axe heads. Stone tools such as these, said Elder Walley, were highly valued and were popular in trading. The country which he salvaged them from was sandy, so essentially, they had been brought into the area.
Elder Walley was keen to have local Bullsbrook community members go out onto the remaining undeveloped country and walk an emu line, so as to collect the remaining artefacts, but this is proving to be a complex event with no easy resolution in sight.
Of the stone tools that Elder Walley has rescued, it is hoped that with appropriate consultation and permission, a permanent display of a selection of the stone tools could be established within the Ethel Warren Centre at Bullsbrook. It would be great for as many people as possible, especially children, to have access to the local artefacts and appreciate that First Nations people did indeed walk and live in the Bullsbrook area. This is also part of Elder Walley’s vision.
The hope is that any remaining artefacts could then be housed at the Bullsbrook Museum, joining the existing First Nations exhibition there. It is also hoped by Elder Walley that the local community and City of Swan will facilitate the relevant heritage investigations into the rescued artefacts, so as to provide a catalogue and dating of the items.
Although there is little written about the First Nations people who lived and visited the lands which are now part of Bullsbrook east, Elder Walley spoke of the significance of Ki-It Monger and the lands surrounding it, and the natural resource value the area would have provided the Indigenous people, such as fishing and fresh water.
On his visit to the Bullsbrook Museum, where he gifted the local artefacts into the temporary care of the Bullsbrook community through the Museum Indoor Curator, Mrs Bev Taylor, and Museum member, Olga Utting, Elder Walley spoke about the area where he had collected the artefacts. This land was actually purchased by relatives of Mrs Taylor’s husband, which they created into agricultural farm. These lands were farmed by the Taylor family for many decades and they now form part of the current estate development and the Taylor family continue to farm in this district.
If you are interested in seeing these artefacts, they are housed at the Bullsbrook Museum on Turner Road, West Bullsbrook. The museum is currently open on Sundays between 10 am – 2 pm or by appointment.
