CockburnCoast - Western Australian Planning Commission

CockburnCoast
Photo courtesy: Battye Library
Dreaming stories about the Waugal, crocodile and other creative
ancestral beings in the mythology belong not only to the narrow strip
of the Cockburn coast but have travelled along dreaming paths to
other seaside places, reaching the far north and south of the Swan
coastal plain.
The Nyoongar bond to the land and sea remains strong. In keeping
with the Nyoongar oral tradition, Nyoongar elders met at Robb Jetty
Park near C. Y. O'Connor Beach and shared their cultural knowledge
and related memories of the Cockburn coast landscape. Their
stories and anecdotes speak of a spiritual connection with the land
through dreamtime stories and, importantly, stories of the Robb Jetty
camp, a gathering place for Indigenous people from all over
Western Australia.
Among the elders present at that meeting were Corrie Bodney and
his wife Violet, who tells of life at the Robb Jetty camp.
“The camp was part of many people's 'runs'. There didn't
use to be a lot of Aboriginal people living around Perth and
Fremantle in the past. They moved to the metropolitan area
in the 1950s with the finishing up of work on the stations and
the provision of housing by the government. Robb Jetty had
been a place to stay for a while, and then move on. Many
Aboriginal people also worked in the area, at the abattoirs
and trained horses.”
First settler's voice
In 1829, when Captain James Stirling established a colony on the
Swan River, he proclaimed the Nyoongar people British subjects.
For the Nyoongar people, Captain Stirling's declaration ended a
period of more than 50 000 years as the sole inhabitants of the land.
Colonists, prisoners and adventurers poured into the new land with
a new language and strange habits, to change forever the size,
shape and destiny of Western Australia and the Cockburn coast.
A grid of European settlements and paths was superimposed over
traditional Nyoongar tracks and dreaming trails, bringing a new
layer of interpretation of the landscape.
For the early settlers, the landscape was miserable - an oppressive
land breeze, deadly wildlife, Nyoongar bush firings, failing crops
and sickly livestock. There are few flattering descriptions of the new
Fremantle colony from this time. A woman describes her arrival in
the colony:
"All these passengers, setting out from England with gay
hopes to a land of splendid promise, were ruined in one
night. In the dawn light, they saw their precious goods,
savings of a lifetime, scattered over the beach, broken by
waves and rocks, destroyed,”
Michael Berson - Cockburn: The making of a community (1978)
But there are glimmers, too, of delight and the chance to try one's
luck. South Beach was the stage for the colony's first horse race in
1833. Seven Timor ponies lined up across the beach, their owners
keen to win the generous five sovereign purse.
Moving forward 175 years to daybreak in winter, Terry Patterson
walks his horses down a well-worn path to South Beach for a gallop
and a swim. Terry's family has owned the Daly Street stables since
the 1960s.
“These stables,” Terry explains, “have been home to Perth,
Kalgoorlie and Caulfield cup winners and two Railway
Stakes winners. When Aptofine won the Railway Stakes
the locals lined the street to cheer the horse.”
Industrial voice
The Cockburn coast was once the engine room of Perth's industrial
revolution. For some time the Cockburn coast was known for longhorned
bulls, smoke stacks, energy and sweat. It was a place of
transformation, where iron ore was smelted for artillery shells and
bullets, while the old power station was fired by black coal.
One of the most significant industries, which continued until
relatively recent times, revolved around the Robb Jetty abattoir. The
slaughterhouses of Forrest, Emanuel & Co, and Conner, Doherty
and Durack, literally fed the metropolitan area and the Goldfields.
These companies were so lucrative they formed a monopoly that no
one could compete with.
Nicknamed “The Kimberley Ring” due to the large pastoral
properties they held in the far north, these companies controlled the
shipping of all stock to Owen Anchorage. The group also had an
interest in a wholesale butcher.
“Before Robb Jetty was built - and afterwards, as a measure
against Kimberley cattle tick - long-horned bush bulls are
pushed down a slippery ramp and forced to swim ashore.
A character called 'Wingie' protects them from large tiger
sharks which, if the one armed rifleman is on song, will soon
be boiled down for their oil at the nearby shark factory.”
Ron Davidson - Fremantle Impressions (2006)
Photo courtesy: Fremantle Library
60 district structure plan