History

Aboriginal Culture and Heritage

The Local History Collection and the Joondalup Reference Collection have information on the local Nyoongar people and aboriginal heritage sites within the City of Joondalup.

• Dreaming stories relating to the local environment have been collected in consultation with the local aboriginal community.
• Display material is available for loan to schools and staff are able to assist you with your programs both within your classrooms and by arranging a visit to the collection.

For further information contact the Reference and Local Studies Librarian on 9400 4746.

There are several groups within the community who are able to supply aboriginal storytellers and presenters to classes to bring to life the Nyoongar culture for students.

For further information please contact the School Liaison Officer on 9400 4207.

Nyoongar Culture and Lake Joondalup

The City of Joondalup has installed interpretive signage in Neil Hawkins Park to highlight the native flora and fauna of the area and their traditional uses by Nyoongar people.  Students can discover the answers to questions such as:

• What lives in and around Lake Joondalup?
• What are the Nyoongar seasons?                                                                                                
• How many species of fungi can be found in Yellagonga Regional Park?

The signs are all contained within the main area of the park and would take students 30 – 45 minutes to complete the circuit. A visit to the park can be combined with Civics and Library tours to the City of Joondalup.

For further information please contact the School Liaison Officer on 9400 4207.

Picture Joondalup/ Oral History - NEW RESOURCE!

The Joondalup Library Local History Collection has developed a new resource which brings the history of the region to life.

Oral history extracts combined with photographs have been made into youtube videos.  Your students will be able to hear the voices of the market gardeners, dairy farmers and other pioneers who developed the area we know today. 

This is an ongoing project and the number and variety of interviews will be continuously increased.  Access to the youtube videos is via the searchable Picture Joondalup catalogue.   

Investigating Joondalup’s Past

Each of the City’s 22 suburbs has a fascinating history - brumby round-ups in Greenwood, shacks along the coast and concrete buildings blown up like balloons – these are some of the stories that make up the history of the suburbs of Joondalup.

The Joondalup Libraries’ Local History team have developed Resource Loan Kits which:

•  highlight the environmental changes and social history of each of the suburbs within Joondalup

• use archive material including old street directories, oral history interviews, photographs and historic newspaper articles to assist in meeting Society and Environment Learning Outcomes

• contain work sheets and display material supplied will assist your students to explore the changes in land use from the time of Yellagonga to the present

For further information contact Local History on 9400 4746.

Local History Collection

The Joondalup Library Local History Collection comprises resources that relate specifically to the local area covering the history, development and culture of the region.

• resources relating to European settlement and Indigenous history and culture
• a specialised newspaper cuttings collection of all newspaper items of local significance – these are arranged in subject files for students to easily research for their assignments and date back to the 1970s 
• microfilm of past issues of the West Australian and Community Newspaper
• the oral history collection records the memories of pioneers, foundation residents of local suburbs and anyone who has contributed to the development of the region
• the “Stories from the Suburbs” publications present information that is easily adapted to both secondary and primary school levels and uses all the different resources of the Local History Collection
•  Family History research information is available in the Local History Collection. Birth, death and marriage records for Australia and some for England are available to use on microfiche or CD-ROM.The library also has an online subscription to Ancestry.com through the Proquest Ancestry Library.

For further information contact Local History on 9400 4746.  

Life in the Past Lane

Tales of Times Past is a unique group of storytellers who are available to visit schools.

The storytellers offer a wonderful opportunity for students to hear of our heritage drawn from the experiences of senior members of our community. They relate stories of:

• Growing up in the earlier part of the last century
• Changes in the environment, technology and society
• Living through historical events, local and worldwide 
• The heritage of Wanneroo/Joondalup districts
• Migration and settlement

For further information please contact the Tales of Times Past group:

• Val Corey: 9408 0108
• Deanne Hetherington: 9343 7702
• Pat Geary: 9409 9775