Editing Perth (section)

=== Prehistory ===
[[File:Noongar regions map.svg|thumb|left|Perth is located on the traditional land of the [[Whadjuk|Whadjuk people]], one of several groups in south-western Western Australia that make up the [[Noongar]] people.]]

Archaeological evidence attests to human habitation in the Perth area for at least 48,000 years;<ref name="men22">{{cite Q |Q127496561 |mode=cs1 |url-status=live |access-date=2024-05-19 |quote=Archaeologists over the past 40 years have found evidence to push the date of Aboriginal occupancy of the state earlier and earlier, with 50,000 years now widely accepted and 70,000 considered possible.}}</ref>{{rp|9}} according to [[Noongar]] tradition, they have occupied the area since "time immemorial".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Noongar History |url=https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/noongar-history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328182409/https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/noongar-history|archive-date=28 March 2023|access-date=1 January 2024|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]|date=21 July 2020 }}</ref> Noongar country encompasses the south-west corner of Western Australia, with particular significance attached to the [[Perth Wetlands|wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain]], both spiritually (featuring in [[Dreamtime|local mythology]]) and as a source of food.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.archaeology.arts.uwa.edu.au/staff/bowdler__research_interests/the_pleistocene_pacific |title= The Pleistocene Pacific |last= Bowdler |first= Sandra |journal= Published in 'Human Settlement', in D. Denoon (Ed) the Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders. Pp. 41–50. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge |publisher= [[University of Western Australia]] |access-date= 26 February 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080216181223/http://www.archaeology.arts.uwa.edu.au/about/research/bowdler__research_interests/the_pleistocene_pacific |archive-date= 16 February 2008 |jstor= 44080296 |doi= 10.1002/arco.5110 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

The current central business district location is within the traditional territory of the [[Mooro]], a Noongar clan, led by [[Yellagonga]] at the time of the British settlement. The Mooro was one of several Noongar clans based around the Swan River, known collectively as the [[Whadjuk]]. The Whadjuk themselves were one of a larger group of fourteen tribes that formed the south-west socio-linguistic block known as the Noongar (meaning 'the people' in [[Noongar language|their language]]), also sometimes called the Bibbulmun.{{Sfn|ps=none|Heritage Council of Western Australia|1998|p=3}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/15517921|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101160600/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/15517921|access-date=2 January 2024|archive-date=1 January 2024|website=[[AustLit]]|title=First Nations of the South-West Region}}</ref>{{Sfn|ps=none|Government House|2020|p=2}}

On 19 September 2006, the [[Federal Court of Australia]] ruled in the case of ''Bennell v State of Western Australia'' [2006] FCA 1243 that [[Native title in Australia#2005 – Noongar|Noongar native title]] persisted over Perth metropolitan area.<ref name="Bennell">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506060306/http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1243.html|archive-date=6 May 2015|url= http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1243.html |title= ''Bennell v State of Western Australia'' [2006] FCA 1243 |access-date= 1 January 2024 |work= [[Federal Court of Australia Decisions]] |publisher= [[Australasia Legal Information Institute]]}}</ref> An appeal was subsequently filed, and in 2008, the Full Court of the Federal Court upheld parts of the appeal by the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nntt.gov.au/News-and-Communications/Newsletters/Native-title-Hot-Spots-archive/Documents/Hot%20Spots%2027/Bodney%20v%20Bennell.pdf |title= Newsletter: Single Noongar appeal—Perth: Bodney v Bennell 2008 |publisher= [[National Native Title Tribunal]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140212034834/http://www.nntt.gov.au/News-and-Communications/Newsletters/Native-title-Hot-Spots-archive/Documents/Hot%20Spots%2027/Bodney%20v%20Bennell.pdf |archive-date= 12 February 2014 |access-date= 15 August 2009 }}</ref> Following this appeal, the [[Government of Western Australia|Western Australian Government]] and the [[South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council]] negotiated the South West Native Title Settlement. This settlement, including the Whadjuk Indigenous Land Use Agreement over the Perth region, was finalised by the Federal Court on 1 December 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South West Native Title Settlement timeline |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108064403/https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-timeline|archive-date=8 January 2023|url=https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-timeline |access-date=7 April 2022 |date=14 September 2023|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]}}</ref> As part of this agreement, the ''Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition Act'' was passed in 2016, officially recognising the Noongar people as the [[traditional owners]] of the south-west region of Western Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South West Native Title Settlement – Noongar recognition through an Act of Parliament |url=https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-noongar-recognition-through-act-of-parliament |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316205108/https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-noongar-recognition-through-act-of-parliament|archive-date=16 March 2023|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]|date=13 January 2020|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref>