Part of a series of posts by Neil Cownie on The Future of Swanbourne Village

We have the potential to create a community centre within the Swanbourne Village that reflects a memory of place for the area’s history. Historical events and stories that can be represented in the design of the civic spaces and buildings.

Stories such as those told by the last of Perth’s ‘aboriginal fringe dwellers’ who were located along the swampy edges of Galbamaanup in Swanbourne, now known as Lake Claremont. ‘Kudjil the Crow Man at Cottesloe’ as written by researchers, Ken Macintyre and Barb states that they interviewed the former residents of the ‘Swanbourne fringe camp’ who told the story of the ‘larger than life clever man Cudgel’. ‘These Elders remembered stories told to them by ‘the old people’ around the fire at night about Kadjil’s (Cudgel’s) miraculous escape from Rottnest Island. There was no doubt in their minds that this story was true and that Johnny Kadjil (or Cudgel) had indeed landed in the semblance of a crow on a beach not far from the (then) Swanbourne camp.

In another version of the story we find him as the Crow man camped in a cave at Mudurup Rocks performing sacred ceremonies. We could find no documented evidence of Cudgel’s escape from Rottnest. However, the Swanbourne fringe camp-dwellers and their descendants were (and still are) convinced by the oral history passed down to them that Kadjil’s spirit had escaped and visited his people in the guise of a crow. By the 1920’s Cudgel had become a legendary character of Noongar folk mythology. It is not difficult to imagine how such a powerful contemporary folk hero as Cudgel rejuvenated the traditional narrative of what is now known as Kudjil (or Kadjil) the Crow man’.

Perhaps the proposed public park which expands the area of the existing are of lawn and mature Palm trees could be known as ‘Kadjil Park’, a way to show respect for the Noongar people that previously inhabited the area.

Many people would remember the former Lakeway Drive-in located within Swanbourne with its distinctive signage over the modernist inspired ticket box entry canopy. Perhaps there would be opportunity to have weekend evening ‘Lakeway’ outdoor movie screenings within the proposed new public park space.

The many Balga trees located within the railway reserve could be relocated to populate the landscaping of the new public areas. Such intensive plantings of the Balga’s would create a striking and memorable precinct that reflects the native plants of the area.

With the existing bridge needing to be removed, there is opportunity for some of the substantial Jarrah timber columns, beams and cross bracing to be salvaged to make new entry statements to the Swanbourne Train Station that allow a ‘memory of the past’. Such a solution has been incorporated into my scheme for the proposed masterplan for the precinct.

Go back to the The Future of Swanbourne Village

The Bridging Communities Series