A statue honouring one of the staunchest figures in recent Noongar history has been erected in front of Western Australia's Government House.
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was a land rights activist at the turn of last century, who became famous for ignoring the ever-increasing effects of colonisation to continue practicing her culture.
The cast iron statue depicts the Elder as she was often seen in her later years: walking on Country with a wanna (a digging stick), knocking over fences if they impeded her passage to go fishing in the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River).
She was described at the unveiling as a fierce and passionate woman who became one of the central early figures of resistance to European invasion.
The statue is erected above a plinth that depicts the path Balbuk would walk. The natural curves of her trek followed the arc of the river and the land, and stood in stark contrast to the rigid grid lines of the early city landscape.
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel lived from 1840 to 1907. Source: Supplied: State Library of Western Austral/RegionalHUB
Balbuk would be seen walking from Matagarup to a swamp that was drained and became the Perth central railway station.
Along the way, she would gather gilgies (freshwater crayfish) and vegetables.
When this path became blocked as construction started on Perth’s early infrastructure, historian Daisy Bates described how Balbuk would break through and climb over fences to uphold her traditional way of life.
