Looking over the river, the visitor can see a large area of open ground — in this vicinity it is said that there was an ancient corroboree ground.
Many Noongars from Pinjarra and Mandurah have fond memories of Murray Bend as a place they used to come and camp. They used to walk along the river, as Lesley Morrison remembers, ‘we knew every inch of that river’. Nearby was a freshwater spring where it was always possible to get water. People used to camp and fish around here for days at a time, and it was also possible to ford the river near this point. People used to walk here from Pinjarra and were also employed at farms around the area such as ‘Jim Jam’ and Creaton’, two of the earliest.
One of the great characters of Murray Bend and Ravenswood was a woman called `Dolyup’.
Dolyup was an old woman … they reckoned she was a long way over the century — she could have been 130 — 140 — and she was skinny! Got around in a blanket … she was outstanding in her looks — and she was the boss! …she was the boss of her tribe — here — she ruled the lot of them!’ (1993: 462)
