Gurbillup

Gurbillup Buerle is a Noongar name recorded for the Blackwood River in southwestern Australia. The river reaches the sea at Augusta, within Wardandi country. Rivers, estuaries and wetlands held practical and spiritual importance for Noongar communities, linking food resources with places remembered through inherited knowledge.

In May 1830, Governor James Stirling brought settlers aboard the Emily Taylor to the river mouth. Sealers had already reported the river and inlet to the colonial authorities. Stirling explored the waterway and named it Blackwood after Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, under whom he had served. He also declared the townsite of Augusta at its mouth, honouring Princess Augusta Sophia. The establishment of this small colonial settlement placed new names and claims beside an existing Indigenous landscape. The lower river consequently entered the documentary history of the Swan River Colony while remaining part of Wardandi country.