Western Australia's entire Noongar population is to be traced back to the original 200 families that populated the south-west.

The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council program will be the basis of a joint native title bid over the region.

Aboriginal elders, anthropologists and oral histories will be consulted to place all of the state's estimated 30,000 Noongars into one of the original families.

Council chief executive Daryl Pearce says it is the first project of its type.

He says when finished, the program will enable representatives of the original inhabitants to have a say in the native title claim.

"It's something that's never been done before, probably in Australia let alone the south-west," he said.

"But it's our view that it's the Noongar people, the Noongar families, that need to be speaking so one of the things that we want to do is get the voices from the ground."