Lake Monger in West Leederville set to be renamed to Galup in recognition of Whadjuk Noongar history

A push to officially replace Lake Monger’s name with Galup is gaining momentum after a survey found overwhelming support to revert the urban wetland back to its traditional Aboriginal name. More than 77 per cent of respondents to a recent Town of Cambridge survey about the lake’s future management supported the name change, it was revealed at a briefing session on Tuesday. The Cambridge council will vote next Tuesday on whether to formally ask Landgate — the State’s naming authority — to make the change. The request, pending council approval, would be for Galup to become the only name for the area after a five-year transition period in which Lake Monger would be relegated to the secondary name. Landgate has previously said that before it assesses any proposal to change the name, the Town of Cambridge needs to first show it had consulted both locals and traditional owners of the area. It also reiterated the agency’s commitment to recognising Aboriginal language and cultural heritage through place naming and encouraged local governments to seek opportunities to recognise Aboriginal place names through renaming or dual naming. Ballardong woman and Whadjuk elder Lois May is one of the advocates who has been campaigning for the lake’s name to be restored over the past year. “Our way of living is about caring and sharing and we want to share the cultural heritage of Galup with everyone and protect it for future generations,” Ms May said on Tuesday. “We want to have our history recorded and accessible in a tangible way for our families and as a part of truth-telling and healing.” Dual-naming the site to “Galup-Lake Monger” was the second most popular response to the survey question, with fewer than 8 per cent of respondents entirely against any renaming. Among the supporters for the renaming were descendants of John Henry Monger, after whom Lake Monger was named in 1831. “Lake Monger’s Whadjuk Noongar name of Galup should be restored. We hold no esteem in, nor attachment to, the name of Monger in relation to this site. The land was not surrendered to our descendants, it was stolen,” one of the descendants said in their written deputation. The push to rename the lake follows a lengthy campaign by First Nations elders in a bid to help restore the site’s history and significance. “The word Galup has a lot of meanings in Whadjuk Noongar language, but for us it means a place of many fires and was always a place for families to live and to camp because of the access to the fresh water in the lake,” Ms May said. For thousands of years, Galup was home to Whadjuk Noongar families, where they raised and nurtured communities for countless generations prior to British settlement. It is believed between 30 and 40 Noongar people were killed at the site in 1830. Both State and Federal MPs have thrown their support behind the campaign, including Churchlands MLA Christine Tonkin and Curtin MHR Kate Chaney.