Zwaanenrivier, Swan River, Derbarl Yerrigan

Freo Today. 11 April 2024. Just over 327 years ago, on 10 January 1697, the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh ventured up the river of the place Whadjuk people call Walyalup. He and his crew are believed to have been the first Europeans to do so. They are also assumed to be the first Europeans to see black swans. de Vlamingh named the river, in Dutch, Zwaanenrivier, or Swan River in English, after the large number they observed there. His name for the river went on to maps used by other Europeans thereafter including the British who established the Swan River Colony in 1829. To the Whadjuk, for many thousands of years before de Vlamingh, and since, the river has been and is known as Derbarl Yerrigan. And the black swans are still there. Here are some resting on the river just a couple days ago, near the Dome café in East Fremantle.