Cottesloe stories
A closer look at the stories behind the map.
The Freo Doctor
A hot afternoon, then a welcome change in the air. That’s the Freo Doctor: the sea breeze that brings cooler ocean air across the Perth coast and inland. In summer and early autumn it usually arrives from the south-west, taking the edge off the heat.
Mudurup — place of whiting
There’s a story in the name. Cottesloe Coastcare gives Mudurup’s meaning as “place of the yellow-finned whiting”. It connects this coast with the fish, seasons and knowledge of the Noongar people who have cared for it.
Cottesloe’s elusive living dragon
On a Cottesloe reef, a scrap of seaweed could be a very good disguise. Look closely: it could be one of Cottesloe's seadragons! The leafy seadragon and the weedy seadragon are fish, with branching frills that help them disappear among the reef’s kelp. Even their family life is unusual, with the males carrying the eggs beneath their tails.
Kadjil the Crow man
The crow on this map opens a door into a much older Cottesloe. Noongar oral histories connect Kadjil, also written Kudjil, with Mudurup and Wadjemup. In these accounts, the Crow man could take the form of a crow, and his knowledge connected changing weather with the arrival of fish.
Carnaby’s — endangered cockatoos
Hear a drawn-out “wee-loo” overhead? Look up for a flock of big black cockatoos flashing white through their tails. Carnaby’s are a south-west WA original, and one of the birds that can make an ordinary walk feel rather special.