First Nations-Inspired South Perth Riverfront Restaurant Wins Support

A $3-million Swan River-front restaurant with panoramic views to the Perth CBD and influenced by elders of the city’s Whadjuk Noongar people has been recommended for state approval.

Restaurateurs Umberto and Christian Tinelli hope to open the combined eatery, bar and kiosk on an absolute riverfront site at 5 Mill Point Road at South Perth next year.

Filed for the Tinellis by Perth developers and builders Giorgi Group, the restaurant’s development application said the Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation Cultural Advisory Commitee—including elders and knowledge keepers—was consulted on the project.

As a result, the restaurant is planned to have plaques in Noongar language and a riverfront yarning circle. A Whadjuk song about fish traps would be represented in imprints on an exterior concrete wall.

“These elements provide opportunities for cultural expression and interpretation, including a gathering space for storytelling and community engagement, and contribute to a design that is responsive to the cultural and environmental context of the site,” the DA said.

“Anchored in the rich history of Millers Pool [between which and the river the restaurant would sit] as an indigenous place of gathering and connection, the architectural approach seeks to reinterpret storytelling of its custodians through a contemporary lens, to be shared by all in the modern day.”

▲ A rendering of the restaurant the Tinellis plan to open on the South Perth foreshore next year.

Millers Pool, the Whadjuk name for which is Goorgygoogup, is near the narrowest neck (known as The Narrows) of Perth Water, a wide and shallow expanse of river between South Perth and the CBD. Goorgygoogup is of great significance to Perth’s first people as a birthing site protected and cooled by tall rushes.

The 150-seat restaurant would be sited on a plot that has three Aboriginal heritage listings.

The restaurant and an alfresco area 10m from the river bank would have views across the Swan to the Perth CBD. The restaurant would open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to midnight, and the kiosk from 6am to 8pm. Functions would be held 15 times a year.

Project renderings show the name of the restaurant as Insieme—which, in Italian, means “together”—but elsewhere the DA says the name is yet to be finalised.

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions acting executive director Michelle Corbellini has recommended that environment minister Matthew Swinbourn approve the project. Before he does that, a round of consultation on the DA and Corbellini’s recommendation is open until August 17.