In Room 4 we have been learning about Joondalup’s history. After reading The Dreaming story of the Charnok Woman, the students drew pictures of what they think she looked like.

The original inhabitants of this area were the Oor-dal-kalla people, the family group of Yellagonga, a prominent Aboriginal elder highly regarded in Nyoongar culture. It is from the Oor-dal-kalla people that Joondalup derives its name. The Nyoongar word is Doondalup and it means ‘the lake that glistens’.

The story of the spirit women, Charnok Woman, is particularly important to Joondalup.

Back in the dreamtime there was a tall spirit man and a tall spirit woman called Charnok People. The Charnok woman had long white hair down to her back. In the darkness of the dreamtime, the spirit woman saw a small pair of eyes looking up at her. She picked up this little being. It was a spirit child. She did not want to part with this child so she placed it in her long white hair and the child held on tight. As she travelled she collected more and more of these spirit children. As she crossed a large valley that the Waugal created, which we now know as the Swan River, she left her footprint. We know this place today as Blackwall Reach. The spirit woman continued north as the male Waugal created the lakes toward the north collecting more and more spirit children as she travelled. She realised what she was doing was wrong and had to place the spirit children back. She remembered the spirit man collecting the children and eating them. She had to stop him so she headed south where she last saw him. On her way she came across spirit children that hadn’t been collected and they began to cry for the children in her hair. They turned themselves into Koolbardie the magpie and picked the children from her hair. When the children hit the ground they turned to stone... she headed south leaving a trail of stone behind her leading to the largest stone (Kartakitch), Wave Rock, where she stepped onto the stone and was lifted into the sky. Her hair is the Milky Way and the stars in the sky represent those children she collected. She knew she could never return to the land as her punishment. If you go to Lake Joondalup during a full moon, it is said that you can see her long white hair reflecting from the stars above. So this place is called Joondalup (place of the long white hair.) The lake is often referred to as the water that glistens.

Mrs Zyrucha

Room 4 Teacher