Heirisson Island
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox islands Heirisson Island is an artificially created island in the Swan River in Western Australia at the eastern end of Perth Water, within the suburb of East Perth. It occupies an area of Template:Convert, and is connected to the two foreshores by the Causeway and the Boorloo Bridge. The next upstream island is Kuljak Island, then Ron Courtney Island, with no islands in the Swan River downstream between Heirisson Island and the Indian Ocean other than the artificial islet in Elizabeth Quay.
Before development, there were several small islands, surrounded by mudflats.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Over the years, dredging and reclamation has created a single island, which is now a landscaped nature reserve, with a Template:Convert walking path.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Noongar name for the area is Template:Lang (meaning 'leg deep'), which has been retained for the single island after reclamation.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>
Heirisson Island is listed on the Western Australia Department of Aboriginal Affairs' Register of Aboriginal Sites, as ID 3589.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Heirisson Island originally consisted of six separate smaller islands surrounded by mudflats. By the 1940s, land reclamation and dredging of the Swan River to create two navigable channels saw the islands coalesce into one large island.<ref name=abc24>Template:Cite news</ref>
The area around Heirisson Island is traditionally associated with the Beeloo people, a subgroup of the Whadjuk Noongar, who knew the small islands and mudflats as Template:Lang, referring to the river as being "one leg deep". The island located on either side of the current causeway bridge was known as Template:Lang. The Template:Lang mudflats were the first major crossing point upriver from the river's mouth (at Fremantle) and were an important seasonal access way over which the Beeloo gave other groups right of passage across the river.
The first European to visit the Heirisson Island area was the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in January 1697. He was exploring the Swan River in longboats but only got as far as the Heirisson Island(s) because the mudflats impeded any further progress. Heirisson Island was subsequently named after French midshipman Template:Ill who was on the French ship Le Naturaliste on a scientific expedition led by Nicolas Baudin between 1801 and 1804.<ref name="pér09" />Template:Rp The expedition made several journeys up the river from Fremantle in longboats and made the first maps of the Swan River. The islands were named in June 1801. Captain James Stirling later investigated the area in 1827 just before the Swan River Colony was settled in 1829.<ref>Appleyard, R. T. and Manford, Toby (1979). The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press. Template:ISBN</ref>
Before becoming a reserve the islands had been host to a shanty town and animals were seen grazing on the islands as late as the 1920s.<ref name=abc24/> In the late-1940s plans were drawn for the development of an extensive sporting complex on the now singular island which was envisioned to feature an athletics stadium, an Olympic swimming pool, and 18 tennis courts; however the venture was dropped following a potential cost blowout.<ref name=abc24/> Other proposals for the island throughout the years include those for a motel, a golf course, a caravan park, and a cultural centre with museums and concert halls. In 1966, it was proposed to develop Heirisson Island into an aerodrome for VTOL aircraft. There were also plans to fill in the western channel of the Swan River and join the island to East Perth.<ref name=abc24/>
In September 1984 the Government of Western Australia erected a statue of Aboriginal warrior Yagan on the island. In 1997 the statue's head was twice removed by vandals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1998, five female western grey kangaroos were introduced onto the island, followed by a female with a male joey in 2000.<ref name="Long, 2003">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
In 2008 a new master plan for Heirisson Island was adopted by the City of Perth which proposed establishing an international quality sculpture park on the island as well as constructing an amphitheatre and a footbridge that would link Point Fraser to Heirisson Island.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> The plan faced opposition from Aboriginal elders, and Template:As of the sculpture park and amphitheatre have yet to be established.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In December 2022, the construction of the Boorloo Bridge was approved to connect Point Fraser and McCallum Park in Victoria Park via Heirisson Island. The $100 million pedestrian and cycling bridge project began construction in November 2023,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and opened on 22 December 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Aboriginal protests
Heirisson Island has been the site of a number of protests by Australian Aboriginal activists.
Tent embassy
In 2012, the island was the site of a tent embassy, set up in February by Noongar people to raise community awareness about problems with a government plan to extinguish most of the native title land in the southwest of Western Australia that was recognised in 2006 by Justice Murray Wilcox of the Federal Court of Australia.<ref>Bennell v Western Australia FCA 1243 (Federal Court of Australia 2006).</ref><ref name=Inauguration>Template:Cite web</ref> The Noongar Tent Embassy was intended to be a peaceful affirmation of native title to Noongar country and legitimate use of a state-registered Aboriginal heritage site,<ref name=KerrCox>Kerr, Thor & Cox, Shaphan (2013). R. Briggs, N. Lucy & S. Mickler (Eds.). Setting up the Nyoongar Tent Embassy: a report on Perth media. Perth: Ctrl-Z Press.</ref> and was inspired by the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.<ref name=Inauguration/><ref name=KerrCox/> However, there were many claims made of rocks being thrown at passing boats.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The tent embassy was removed by police in March 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Refugee camp
Template:Mainarticle In early March 2015, a group of Aboriginal activists set up what they referred to as a refugee camp after the state government announced plans to close some remote Western Australian Aboriginal communities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The camp was removed ten days later by City of Perth rangers, with police support,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but gradually reassembled and was occupied by about 100 people when it was dismantled again by police and City of Perth rangers in late April 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In January 2016 a group of about 60 peopleTemplate:Sndincluding some non-indigenous homeless peopleTemplate:Sndwere camping on the island again.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By April 2016, the camp had grown to over 100 and it was again removed by police and rangers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>