Matagarup Bridge, named in recognition of the cultural significance of the immediate Swan River area to the local Whadjuk community.
Matagarup is the name given by traditional custodians to the area around Heirisson Island and means ‘place where the river is only leg deep, allowing it to be crossed’.
The bridge structural shape resembles two flying swans, with the bridge arches representing the wishbones, but it can also be seen as a swimming dolphin, or a Wagyl serpent.
The Wagyl is the Noongar version of the Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal mythology, from the culture based around the south-west of Western Australia.
The Noongar describe the Wagyl as a snakelike Dreaming creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning rivers and other waterways and landforms around present-day Perth and the south-west of Western Australia.
Noongar means ‘a person of the south-west of Western Australia,’ or the name for the ‘original inhabitants of the south-west of Western Australia’ and we are one of the largest Aboriginal cultural blocks in Australia
The bridge was built to join East Perth with Perth Stadium.
A 60,000 capacity multipurpose ground predominately used as a home base for the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Australian Football teams.
