On Western Australia’s wild southern coast, the Noongar season of Bunuru brings gentle breezes and riotous golden Moodjar blossoms.

Feature by Carolyn Beasley

Menang Noongar elder, Ms Vernice Gillies views the seaward-plunging granite headlands and seafood-laden, pristine inlets of Albany (Kinjarling) through the eyes of her ancestors, and with the benefit of at least 40,000 years of cumulative experience, she generously shares her knowledge.

Vernice says that by the latter half of summer, the Noongar season of Bunuru is usually approaching, signified by the warmest weather and a decrease in the strong easterly winds.

“Bunuru is the hottest and driest time of our year, so we have to be very careful to have no fires,” she says.

At this time of year, Menang people, who migrated inland during winter, would be back, living around the coastline. Kids may be splashing each other in the shallows on warm sunny days, although Vernice notes the Menang would not swim, they were not traditionally water people.

Bunuru is considered a time for ‘young ones,’ and this would affect hunting activities.

“They wouldn’t be hunting as much, because the animals will be having joeys in their pouch,” Vernice says. “They’d catch some fish, they’d take a look at how fat the emu might be, or they may take a young buck kangaroo.”

_{Bushfood with Kurrah Mia, Denmark}

Bunuru can be a time when food is a little scarcer, with all the native berries finished up in Birak, the season before.

“But there was always something else,” Vernice says. “They would dig up the tubers, like the mearn (blood root) plant, it’s like a cross between a chilli and an onion. That was the mums and kids’ job, to dig those up using digging sticks.”

Another sign of Bunuru season is that the Moodjar tree, the Western Australian native Christmas tree, is draped in outlandish golden flowers.

_{Moodjar Tree}

“There are some blooms coming out in Birak, but Bunuru is when they are at their best, they love the heat,” Vernice explains.

The Moodjar tree is of spiritual significance to people of the Noongar nations, and Vernice explains the souls of those that have passed away take a rest in this tree, during their struggle between this world and the next. For this reason, the Noongar people never interfere with the sacred Moodjar tree. And during the Bunuru blooming extravaganza, there are extra signs from nature, reinforcing the taboo of this tree.

“The flowers actually attract ants, and bees are all over it,” Vernice says. “So not getting stung and bitten, that’s just another reason not to interfere with it.”

Vernice is a co-owner of tour company Kurrah Mia, and offers three main tours. On the Mount Clarence tour, visitors learn about the seasonal movements of the Menang people between the inland and the sea, and their local economy and culture.

“That’s the tour of the mountain top, and takes in the views of Borongur, the Porongurups, and the Stirling ranges, that’s Koi Kyenunu-ruff,” she explains. 

_{Tour with Kurrah Mia, Albany}

The Quaranup Aboriginal Walking Tour journeys to Quaranup, overlooking Princess Royal Harbour. One highlight of this tour is viewing the ancient gnamma hole, a waterhole created by Noongar people who heated the rock with fire, and then poured cold water to crack the rock. This crack was then chipped away, and when there was a hole, a stone would be placed in the cavity. During strong water flows, that stone would move, digging out the waterhole even deeper.

“They were real scientists, the old people,” Vernice notes.

Kurrah Mia’s third tour takes in eight ancient stone fish traps in the narrow mouth of Oyster Harbour.

“They would have been used at a time when they brought a lot of people together, maybe for corroboree, inviting people from elsewhere to come in and enjoy the fish,” Vernice explains.

On an incoming tide, mullet, stingrays and other fish were washed into the traps, and a stone was inserted to effectively close the door, blocking the fish from escape. Branches were piled up around the perimeters, preventing large fish from jumping over. Small fish were naturally released, swimming through gaps in the rocks.

Along with Albany’s striking granite headlands, biodiverse bushland and wild coastline, Vernice says these remarkable traps, that sustained the Menang Noongar people for millennia, are worthy of visitors’ attention. 

_{The Gap, near Albany}

“People get excited about a 3000-year-old site being found in Egypt or somewhere else and you know, we've got a six-and-a-half to 10,000-year-old site on our doorstep!” she says.

With the weather at its best in Bunuru, the time of the young, and the vibrant yellow Moodjar in spectacular form, there’s never been a better time to visit.

Published January 2024.