The land now known as Mandurah was the home of the Bindjareb people of the Noongar Nation for tens of thousands of years. They called the area Mandjoogoordap, meaning `meeting place of the heart`, and were sustained by the bounty offered by the Peel-Harvey Estuary, Djilba to them. That came to an end after 1829 with the Swan River Colony (Perth) when Thomas Peel was granted vast areas of land. Conflict followed, nothing new. In retribution posse raids on white settlements, the 1834 Pinjarra Massacre, 10km SE of Mandurah, saw up to 30 Binjareb die. A European settlement grew, exploiting that estuary with fishing and crabbing industry. In 1898, the population was 150. Post-war, the area, with its incredible natural attractions and aided by nearby industrial development such as at Kwinana, became popular as a tourist destination, but it wasn't until 2007 when Mandurah was connected to the Perth city railway network that Mandura really leaped forward. Mandurah is now a `communter city` and is one of Australia`s fastest growing regional centres.
Mandurah is a beautiful coastal town, with fine beaches, the estuary already mentioned, a haven for recreational fisherfolk, and various wetlands, a haven for birds, apparently, but I didn't see many. We stayed in a comfortable west-facing room at The Sebel Apartments very well located on the estuary waterfront, within a pleasant walking distance of town and many cafes and restaurants in a nearby marina. It`s also near a development called Dolphin Quay which is one of several `canal estates` in the Mandurah area involving reclamations of natural wetlands and swamps.
Disturbed Wetlands
The most fascinating natural feature of Mandurah is its wetlands. Before the idyllic life of the Bindjareb was disturbed, the region would have been dominated by the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, as a massive, shallow, calm expanse of water, likely a deeper blue near the centre, transitioning to translucent shallows fringed with light green and brown. Its only opening to the ocean was the single, narrow outlet in the north. Now there is an artificial opening to the south. Without the present concrete shorelines, the water everywhere would have faded into broad, unbroken expanses of samphire flats, plants that like salt, and sedgelands, other grass-like plants. (Luckily, the internet knows this stuff!) Seasonal inundations would have occurred. The Murray and Serpentine Rivers, which merge and join Peel Inlet at its north-west, meandered down, flowing through untamed densely forested vegetation. The only structures would have been Indigenous temporary fishing camps, meant to last only a week or two. The Noongar people know about sustainability and moving their camps prevented depletion of resources.
That paradise has been disturbed three times: when the first European farming first appeared; in the mid 1900s when overdevelopment brought green algae, and then near 2000 with the `canal estates`. Only the last, involving massive excavation everywhere and digging an artificial channel, was recent enough to cause with white-man controversy, because of their environmental impacts. Developers were required to minimise `wetland destruction` and `habitat loss`, and to monitor `water quality`, but was it enough? The dolphins are still there, as we saw, and the fishing is still good, apparently, so the regulations have been useful.
The Giants of Mandurah
We discovered something that makes Mandurah truly unique in Australia, making the town worth the visit if for no other reason. It is the art installation, the Giants of Mandurah, which encompasses half a dozen very large wooden statues of gentle trolls hidden in secret places all around town (including one in Perth, just to be different). The locations are not publicised, but instead a `treasure map` approach encorages visitors to trek to the statues from some nearby parking spot. How cool is that? We trekked to most of them, a great way to get some exercise and see outlying parts of the town. The sculptor was Thomas Danbo, the artworks are made from recycled or scrap timber, and they are big! If these trolls were standing erect, they would be 3-4m tall. Dambo is world-renowned for building large-scale, whimsical sculptures from recycled and locally sourced scrap wood (such as pallets, fences, and second-hand furniture). He has 100 trolls all over the world. His work presents as environmental activism, encoraging recycling, showing that garbage can be a valuable resource. The Mandurah project, no small thing, was mostly funded by the WA Government via the non-profit arts and culture organisation FORM, with further business and local support. The photographs are mine, of course, but most of their captions are barely edited adaptions from written interpretations about each statue that we picked up with our treasure map.