The City of Cockburn is making steps towards documenting history for the future in the local community by funding Murdoch University researchers to record the Indigenous oral history of the region.

The team (Mr Len Collard, Dr Dave Palmer and Dr Leonie Stella from the Division of Social Sciences Humanities and Education), is focusing on the ways Aboriginal people have contributed to the Cockburn community since the post-war era.

Over the next six months, they will be recording the oral histories of ten Aboriginal people from different families who have lived in the area for most of their lives.

“Aboriginal people are known to have contributed to the community in a number of ways,” said Dr Palmer.

“For example, Aboriginal people made up the largest number of casual workers in the region up to the mid 1970’s, and they have always been a central part of community sporting activities.”

Dr Palmer said there has been recent burgeoning interest by local governments in reconciliation and working with local Aboriginal people.

“By recording an oral history of Aboriginal people in the Cockburn region over the past 30 years, we aim to fundamentally encourage collaboration and partnerships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people through creating a depth of cultural understanding,” he said.

“This may help in the reconciliation process on a local scale.”

Local governments have also realised the importance of Indigenous culture to the tourism industry.

“Tourists do not generally visit Australia to admire our colonial buildings,” said Dr Palmer.

“They are here to see the natural landscape and to learn about our Indigenous culture stretching back 40,000 years.

“In the South-West region, up to 60 per cent of place names are taken from the Nyungar language.”

The City of Cockburn hopes to keep the resulting documents as a public record in the library for education purposes.