Map - Heirisson Island (Heirisson Island)

Heirisson Island (Heirisson Island)
Heirisson Island is an island in the Swan River in Western Australia at the eastern end of Perth Water, between the suburbs of East Perth and Victoria Park. It occupies an area of 285600 m2, and is connected to the two foreshores by The Causeway. 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. Over the years, dredging and reclamation has created a single island, which is now a landscaped nature reserve, with a 2 km walking path. The Noongar name for the area is Matagarup (meaning "leg deep"), which has been retained for the single island after reclamation.

Heirisson Island is listed on the Western Australia Department of Aboriginal Affairs' Register of Aboriginal Sites, as ID 3589.

The area around Heirisson Island is traditionally associated with the Beeloo people, a subgroup of the Whadjuk Noongar, who knew the small islands and mud flats as Matagarup, referring to the river as being "one leg deep". The island located on either side of the current causeway bridge was known as Kakaroomup.

The Matagarup mud flats 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 Flemish 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 mud flats impeded any further progress.

Heirisson Island was named after French midshipman François-Antoine Boniface Heirisson, who was on the French ship Le Naturaliste on a scientific expedition led by Nicolas Baudin between 1801 and 1804. The expedition made several journeys up the river from Fremantle in longboats and made the first maps of the Swan River. The island was named in June 1801. Captain James Stirling later investigated the area in 1827 just before the Swan River Colony was settled in 1829.

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.

In 1998, five female western grey kangaroos were introduced onto the island, followed by a female with a male joey in 2000.

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. The plan faced opposition from Aboriginal elders, and as of December 2022 the sculpture park and amphitheatre have yet to be established. 
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
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