Goolugatup Lowerlands Renewal
The City of Melville is leading the revitalisation of the Goolugatup Lowerlands in partnership with Whadjuk Elders, Cultural Leaders and community stakeholders. The project is transforming a neglected section of the Derbarl Yerrigan foreshore into a culturally significant river park, guided by a place-based reconciliation approach that honours Country, history and ecology.
UDLA, working alongside Whadjuk Elders Karen Jacobs and Farley Garlett and a Whadjuk Reference Group, has co-designed the landscape to embed cultural knowledge and practices into the park’s renewal. The design emphasises the site’s role as a place of healing, learning and connection, with spaces for gathering, ceremony and everyday community life.
Site-wide curatorial framework
For more than a decade, the City of Melville has worked with Whadjuk Traditional Owners, Elders and the community to ensure the renewal respects living heritage while creating a parkland of lasting value. The project acknowledges Goolugatup as a place of knowledge, transformation and signalling, ensuring these cultural narratives remain central as the site is reactivated for future generations.
The design for the Lowerlands enhances the foreshore’s natural riverine character while restoring ecological function. It respects the site’s living heritage – its cultural and built layers – by improving waterfront access, introducing medicinal planting, and creating spaces for ceremony and reflection. Each element has been shaped to honour its enduring significance as a place of knowledge and healing.
The renewed landscape will provide improved public facilities, including gathering spaces, picnic areas, a car park, toilets, lighting, upgraded bike paths and new connections between the upper and lower lands. Karla Mandjar, a yarning circle with a fire pit for cultural ceremonies, is the first stage of delivery, designed as a place for dialogue, reflection and reconciliation.
In addition to leading the river park’s design, UDLA was engaged to devise a cohesive ‘whole-of-place’ brand and signage suite for both Goolugatup Lowerlands and the adjacent Goolugatup Heathcote precinct. This strategy weaves stories of Whadjuk history, cultural meaning and built heritage throughout the site, guiding visitors and enriching their understanding of its layered identity.
Karla boodja bilya djinda at Goolugatup.
Top left: Neville Collard (photo by UDLA), top right: the smoking ceremony
(photo by UDLA), bottom left: Whadjuk Elders Neville Collard, Farley Garlett
and Karen Jacobs (photo by Cole Baxter), bottom right: the event evening
(photo by UDLA).
In May 2023, at a key milestone in the project, the Whadjuk community, City staff, residents and the wider public gathered for a smoking ceremony with storytelling, music and a showcasing of the park designs. It was a significant moment in a special project, and we look forward to seeing it continue to take shape.
Details:
Client: City of Melville
Aboriginal Country: Whadjuk Noongar Country
Location: Melville, Western Australia
Dates: 2022 - 2024
Aboriginal Leadership: Farley Garlett, Karen Jacobs and a Whadjuk Reference Group
Lead Consultant: UDLA
Collaborators: Syrinx, Archae-aus, Acor, Apparatus, Consulting Engineers, IDS, Hook
Images: UDLA unless captioned otherwise
