I was contracted to write historical ‘chunks’ of information for display on poles along the Albany Waterfront. The text tells stories about Albany’s past.

There are four areas: Welcome; Sealers & Whalers; Telegraph, Rail, Steam and Port; and Settlement.

Here is a snippet from the Welcome Poles:

Kaia Kaia Kinjarling. Welcome to Albany.

This area, now known as Albany, was previously called Kinjarling (place of rain). Noongar people have lived around these waters for thousands of years. Their country was bountiful. Fish was a major food source and networks of weirs and fishtraps were developed in nearby waterways. Oysters were plentiful, as was a bulbous red root called Menang. Over time, Noongar people living around these waters also came to be known as Menang. For some, the word evolved further to become a compass bearing in that, ‘to go south’ was ‘to go Menang’.