Whadjuk Boodja

WADJEMUP

Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodja

For Whadjuk Nyoongar people, boodja (Country or land) is everything. We are part of the land and the land is part of us. Whadjuk Nyoongar Elders are keepers of kaartidjin (deep knowledge) about the complexities of boodja; its management, its seasons, and its creation. Kaartidjin was passed down, unwritten, for thousands of years on Wadjemup before the sea rose.

Through ritual and ceremony, lore and custom, song and dance, Whadjuk Nyoongar children were brought up knowing their people and their boodja. This knowledge included knowing where they could and could not go, the location of water sources, food, trees, and the habits of all the creatures on land, in the water, and in the sky.

Aerial of swan peel.jpg — *“…[Whadjuk Nyoongar people] would've walked across to Wadjemup at one point ... There would be a lot of evidence on Rottnest Island about how long-ago people were there.”*
— Margaret Gidgup, Whadjuk Nyoongar Traditional Owner and descendant of Kudjil ‘Crowman’

An aerial shot of the coast of Western Australia the shallow waters (light blue/green) show how Wadjemup (top left of image) would’ve been connected to the rest of the mainland. Courtesy Rottnest Island Authority.

Whadjuk Nyoongar people understand that everything on earth was given to us from the Dreaming (creation) and that spirit beings and their ancestors speak to us through boodja: all the land’s geographical forms and elements, waterways, trees, and animals. Whadjuk Nyoongar people know everything is connected. Our traditional land management practices are testament to this.

Whadjuk Nyoongar people have experienced this connection for thousands of years. Boodja is an inseparable part of identity.

Wadjemup:
koora wordel, kalygool wordel

Ni dji.

Djinang kadadjiny. Boodja wirn warkiny.

Wardong warkiny. Ni.

Listen for a moment.

See and understand. The spirits of the land are speaking.

Crow is speaking. Listen…

Creation

Whadjuk Nyoongar spirituality is one of many kaartdijin (knowledge) practises. We know the creation time as Nytitting or Dreaming. The Waugal, our spiritual being, is acknowledged as the creator and is pivotal to Whadjuk Nyoongar beliefs and customs.

The Waugal gives life and sustains all fresh water sources. It was the Waugal that made Whadjuk Nyoongar people owners of the land. Nyitting stories are the foundations for cultural lore, moral order and established customs. When the great Waugal created boodja, he made certain there were wirn (spirits) to guard the land and everything on it.