Noongar people

The Noongar gather fourteen groups, Amangu to Wudjari, Whadjuk of Perth among them, across the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton to Esperance, calling it Noongar boodja. Descended of mutually intelligible dialect peoples, they speak Noongar of the great Pama-Nyungan family, today laced through Aboriginal English. Six seasons order hunting kangaroo, fishing, burning and gathering, and the Waugal serpent made the rivers. Swan River colonisation from 1829 brought massacre, missions and the stolen generations; Perth grew over Whadjuk fishing camps. The South West settlement, Australia's largest native-title deal, now funds Noongar corporations, ranger teams, language nests and the music scene, and Noongar boodja welcomes visitors on its own terms. Fourteen groups still meet in one cultural bloc. Geraldton and Esperance mark the bloc's far corners. Aboriginal English carries Noongar words into every home. Pama-Nyungan cousins stretch across the whole continent. Census counts of Noongar keep rising every count. Fourteen groups still gather as one bloc yearly.