Aboriginal PERTH
PETER RIGBY INVESTIGATES THE ABUNDANCE OF ABORIGINAL CULTURE IN PERTH, FROM FINE DINING TO FINE ART
All artworks supplied are courtesy of Japinkga Gallery in Perth
Strolling through Perth’s Kings Park, the world’s largest inner city botanical garden and nature reserve, it’s easy to forget that the city’s bustling Central Business District is less than a mile away. The gardens are alive with the fluting sounds of magpies, chattering wattlebirds, the shrill twitter of willie wagtails and the comical croaks of Australian crows. Native flora abounds in an abundance of colours. Red and green kangaroo paws – the state emblem. Pink and white everlasting daisies. Electric blue Lechenaultia. My Aboriginal guide, Nyoongar elder Dr Richard Walley, is in his element, identifying each species with ease. He knows this unspoiled place intimately, as his ancestors have for thousands of years.
Prior to European settlement, the Kings Park area was known as Mooro Katta and Kaarta Gar-Up, and has long been an important ceremonial and cultural place for the local Whadjuk tribe (a dialectal group of the Nyoongar), which had campsites and hunting grounds in the area. “When Europeans arrived here three centuries ago, they were accustomed to four seasons, which was fine for their part of the world,” Walley explains; “but when you know the life cycles here intimately, you realise six seasons are better suited to this land.”
The six seasons – Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang – vary in length, defined by nature and the elements rather than dates on a calendar. The flowering of different plants, the hibernation of reptiles and even the moulting of Australian black swans are used as indicators that the seasons are in transition. This land, and the natural world it sustains, are an
essential part of Aboriginal culture in Western Australia. Today, many producers in Perth – from farmers to chefs – are drawing upon a greater connection with the natural world around them. Kings Park, the ancient heart of modern-day Perth, is a microcosm of Western Australia's Aboriginal traditions, culture and art.
By observing the changing of the six Aboriginal seasons in his menus, Jed Gerrard, Executive Chef at Perth’s award-winning Wildflower, is able to serve the freshest Western Australian produce, year-round. "The changing seasons dictate the availability of produce," says Gerrard. “By utilising fresh seasonal produce from local farmers and producers, we can really showcase the best of these seasons and give Wildflower guests a true West Australian dining experience.”
When I visited Wildflower, the season was Kambarang (late spring). Following sunset cocktails on the restaurant deck, I took a seat and began Gerrard’s five-course tasting menu. The entrée was blue swimmer crab, harvested from Western Australia’s Shark Bay, and served with avocado, preserved kohlrabi, sea blite, macadamia and finger lime. The main was woodgrilled beef with Jerusalem artichoke, saltbush, dripping emulsion and red wine syrup, served with a side dish of Albany asparagus dressed in sea parsley and lemon myrtle. Dessert combined whipped chocolate from Margaret River-based chocolatiers, Bahen & Co. with wattleseed cream and caramel with salt from Western Australia’s Lake Deborah.
Back in Kings Park, Walley shows me where many of these indigenous ingredients grow in the wild, as well as plants that can be used for medicinal purposes,
Today, many producers in Perth are discovering a greater connection with the natural world around them through the Aboriginal traditions
and those that can be shaped for building shelters and weapons for hunting. “Let’s stop a moment and listen to the land,” he says. “Many visitors to the park tend not to use all their senses. We are so caught up in the rush of the modern world, but it is important to absorb the nature around you.” I become aware of the black cockatoos screeching overhead, a tubby bobtail lizard rustling in shrubbery and the ticking of cicadas.
The park is situated on Mount Eliza, looking down on the Swan River flowing below us on its route to nearby Fremantle and out into the inky blue Indian
Ocean. The river and the terrain here have great spiritual significance for the Nyoongar, recognised as the custodians of this land. Today two-thirds of the 400-hectare reserve is protected as bushland and provides a haven for native biological diversity. There are also sites which are important meeting places for Walley’s people: some exclusively for women’s activities, others for male rituals and initiations, and some for corroborees (dance gatherings).
Australia's indigenous art goes back as far as the peoples themselves, approximately 50,000 years, and its earliest examples can still be seen in ancient rock paintings and carvings. These, coupled with body painting, ground designs, ochre bark painting and more westernised art forms such as painting on canvas, constitute the oldest ongoing art tradition in the world. The art connects the past and present, the people and the land, the supernatural and the material. The artistic traditions in painting, dance, song and craftsmanship reflect the richness and diversity of Aboriginal culture, and the distinct differences between tribes, languages, dialects and geographic landscapes.
Today, visitors from all over the world travel to Perth to visit specialist galleries and world-class museums throughout the city.
A guided tour of Kings Park with a Nyoongar elder is included in COMO The Treasury’s 'Wildflower Experience', as well as two nights in a Heritage Room, a five-course seasonal tasting menu at Wildflower, a Cape Arid welcome gift, picnic lunch hamper and valet parking. This package is priced from AUD 1,950 based on two guests sharing. Bookings: res.thetreasury@comohotels.com.
Pictured: Wildflower's canapés. Above and below: Sandhills and Riverbed, by Anna Petyarre
Observing the changing of the six Aboriginal seasons in his menus, Jed Gerrard, Executive Chef at Perth ’s award-winning Wildflower, is able to serve the freshest Western Australian produce