Changing seasons – wildflowers blooming
The Noongar Season ‘Makuru’, represented by the colour dark blue symbolising rain and cold weather, is drawing to a close.
In the southwest of Australia, the Noongar seasonal calendar is a guide to what nature is doing at every stage of the year.
During Makuru, Aboriginal people would traditionally move inland away from the cold winds of the coast, with a change in food sources from seafood to land-grazing fauna such as the kangaroo and emu.
The flowering of many different plants, the hibernation of reptiles and the moulting of swans are helpful indicators of change.
The transition to the next of the six seasons, Djilba, heralds the massive flowering explosion that starts with show-stopping plants such as the highly diverse Acacias, with their cream to bright yellow blossoms.
The wildflower season is already spreading through the Coral Coast region and in the northern region of WA’s Golden Outback. With more than 12,000 species, 60 per cent of which are found nowhere else in the world, WA’s botanical display like no other will colour the landscapes from coast to forest and city to outback from now until November.
One of the best ways to experience and discover WA’s wildflowers is on a guided tour. The WA Visitor Centre’s Wildflower Tracker app also provides travellers with easy-to-use information and sightings reference, with an interactive map showing exactly where the wildflowers are blooming.