in their language), also sometimes called the Bibbulmun. On 19 September 2006, the Federal Court of Australia brought down a judgment finding that Noongar native title continued to exist over the Perth metropolitan area in the case of Bennell v State of Western Australia [2006] FCA 1243. An appeal was subsequently lodged and in 2008 the Full Court of the Federal Court upheld parts of the appeal by the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments. Following this appeal, the WA Government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council negotiated the South West Native Title Settlement, including the Whadjuk Indigenous Land Use Agreement over the Perth region, which was finalised by the Federal Court on 1 December 2021. As part of reaching this agreement, the Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition Act was passed in 2016, recognising the Noongar people as the traditional owners of the south west region of Western Australia. Early European sightings and exploration The Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew made the first documented sighting of the present-day Perth region by Europeans on 10 January 1697. They initially explored the area on foot, reaching what is now central Perth, having travelled up the Swan River. They named the river Swarte Swaene-Revier after the black swans of the area. Other Europeans made subsequent sightings and undertook further voyages of exploration of the area between this date and 1829, but as in the case of the observations made by Vlamingh, they adjudged the area inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture that would be needed to sustain a European-style settlement. Swan River Colony Although the Colony of New South Wales established a convict-supported settlement at King George's Sound (later Albany) on the south coast of Western Australia in 1826 in response to rumours that France intended to annex the area, Perth became the first "full-scale" settlement by Europeans in the western third of the continent of Australia in 1829. The British colony would be officially designated "Western Australia" in 1832 but was known informally for many years as the "Swan River Colony" after the area's major watercourse. On 4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the mainland, and Western Australia has subsequently celebrated a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. Captain James Stirling, aboard Parmelia, noted that the site was "as beautiful as anything of this