Illa Kuri Sacred Dreaming Track, East Perth

Winding along the edge of the Derbal Yerrigan (Swan River), near the entry of the Claisebrook Inlet in East Perth, Illa Kuri by Toogarr Morrison is generally understood as a public artwork rather than as a memorial. Nonetheless, Morrison has made use of many elements used in other memorials looked at on this site to tell the story of the loss of land and culture since colonisation. 

A plaque on the one of the stones at the beginning of the bath reads: 

This sacred path representing the Illa Kuri journey is where initiates walked through the Claisebrook valley on the way to their homes. The path leads from one freshwater lake to another. These are represented by the twelve granite rocks that stand as silent sentries.

The names of the tribes and totems are there to guide you through the sacred Illa Kuri dreaming and the sacred totem emblems which gave the indigenous people their identity.

The sacred dreaming path is never ending.

Despite the hopeful note at the end of the plaque, I understand Illa Kuri as a memorial to a lost landscape. This area of Australia is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, but most of these lakes and wetlands have been filled in or polluted since the arrival of Europeans. 

The Nyungar people are the traditional owners of the South West corner of Australia, although Morrison favours talking about the Bibulmun nation rather than the Nyungar people, since Nyungar is the name for ‘man’ in the language of his people. He is a well respected local artist and Elder. 

One of the reasons the East Perth area has a strong connection with Aboriginal people is because it was a camping ground on the edge of the city at a time, at the beginning of the last century, when they were banned from Perth after curfew. That connection has been maintained throughout the 20th century. 

The area around the East Perth foreshore has been renamed Ngango Batta’s Mooditcher, translated as ‘Sunshine’s Living Strength’ and, according to the City of Perth, is now seen as a place of reconciliation and renewal.