Galup

Black swans at Lake Monger, 1978 (COV PHO0100)

Located beside the Mitchell Freeway between Leederville, Wembley and Glendalough, Lake Monger is an urban wetland home to rich bird life and used by many thousands of locals and visitors each week.  Few people know its complex, buried history. 

For tens of thousands of years, Lake Monger was a traditional Noongar camping and meeting place known as Galup (Kaarlup) - a place of fires. In 1830, it was also the site of a colonial massacre of Noongar people.  

The Galup project explores untold stories of the lake through performance, virtual reality and online history and educational resources and seeks to bring people together for truth-telling, connection and healing.

The project included a series of performances around the lake and a virtual reality film created by Same Drum producers Poppy van Oorde-Grainger and Ian Wilkes with an oral history from Elder Doolann-Leisha Eatts about a massacre at the lake in 1830. The Elder led project aims to awareness of Galup/Lake Monger’s history & significance. 

The City of Vincent Local History Centre were one of the partners in the project. We collaborated with Same Drum producers and the Town of Cambridge librarians to develop a historic timeline that explores the impact of settler colonialism at Galup/Lake Monger:     Galup Historic Timeline

For more information about the project visit:  https://www.samedrum.com/galup

The Galup VR experience can be  viewed in the Local History Centre during open hours

Mon-Fri Drop In:  9am-1pm

By appointment: 2pm-5pm

Contact the Local History Centre on 9273 6534 or email local.history@vincent.wa.gov.au