Rottnest Island – A holiday paradise

There is a place 19 km off the coast of Perth, the sunny holiday island of Rottnest, Western Australia’s very own paradise, or at least that’s what it says on the web side of “experienceperth.com” and I cannot say that I argue. According to the pictures it really seems to live up to the statement of being a paradise with beautiful nature and long white beaches which gradually disappears into a clear blue ocean, and could easily be the place Dorothy sings about somewhere over the rainbow. It is easy to see why this little piece of paradise seems appealing to people looking for a place to spend their holiday. Then again I guess no one is flawless, not even this place, with its rather sinister history but makes this an even more interesting place to talk about.

Today this place is majorly mentioned in sentences together with beautiful and relaxing (no thanks to the name) but was once not a place correlated with any of these attributes though rather more with prison, reformatory, and suffering.

A place rich in history

To start from the beginning there was no island and the land now known as Rottnest was inhibited by the indigenous until about 6 500 years ago when the sea level rose and started separating the island from the mainland. As the aboriginals were not a sea faring people they become unable to inhabit the island and it was believed to be a place of spirits by the aboriginals, which is roughly the translation of the name Wadjemup given to the island by the indigenous people.

Not much actually happened on Rottnest before it was rediscovered by Dutch Europeans in the 17^th century and gave it the infamous name of Rottnest Island which translates to rats nest when he mistakenly thought the abundance of local quokkas were oversized rats.

Ever since the Europeans first discovered it and up until today the island has served many different purposes throughout history. This includes among other European settlement, Aboriginal prison, pilot service, reformatory, recreational use, and military training, prisoner war camp and strategic defence point during the World Wars. Now this place is a popular holiday paradise for Australians and international tourists alike to escape the everyday life.

The first European settlers took up residence around 1829 on the small island, shortly after the initial settlements of the swan river colony now known as Perth took place. Just shy of a decade later the island where serving as an Aboriginal Penal settlement which it did for almost a century to come. Over this timespan covering the years acting as a prison for the indigenous population of Australia about 3 700 people with aboriginal origin served their sentence at Rottnest Island where at least 369 died and were buried in unmarked graves on the island.

The prison cells where in 1911, seven years after the prison was closed, turned into tourist accommodation and available for the public except for the years of the First- and Second World War when the island was occupied with military forces. Up until very recently you could find accommodation in the former Aboriginal prison (The Quod) where you could spend your nights in the same rooms as hundreds of aboriginal people died of diseases, malnutrition or physical violence. Last year though the decision of no longer use the former prison where made. The acting Tourism minister John Day said that it was no longer deemed appropriate and an agreement of redevelopment has been signed between the leaseholders, Karma Royal Group, and the State Government.

A matter of perspective

It seems today that the perspective of the Island today is split in two vastly different directions. Where one perspective is the one often given by tourism organisations describing a place of recreation and heavily emphasising the natural beauty of the Island, often failing to mention the mass graves of indigenous people you’ll walk over when exploring the Island. On the other side is the grotesque history of the Aboriginal people who rarely visit the Island due to evident reasons.

This artwork made by Sally Morgan is called Greetings from Rottnest and in its simplistic form sums up the aboriginal versus the tourist view of the Island of Rottnest. It shows a crowd of happy tourists enjoying their time at the island under a sunny sky, seemingly unaffected by the fact that they are standing atop of the graves of Aboriginal people, criticising the ignorance or neglect for the historical events that took place on this island.

Considering the case study task to create an event to take place at this place I would rather make a shift the general perception of the Rottnest Island given to the publicity by showing more of the regrettable but interesting history of this place. This might be done by making the Aboriginal prison a place to expose historical events that went down in this place as might be a reality due to recent events mentioned earlier.

References

 The Australian - Rottnest Island dark past:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/rottnest-islands-dark-past/story-fn9n8gph-1226536762779
Read: 05.06.16

The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia – Heritage icons, Rottnest Island:
https://www.constitutionalcentre.wa.gov.au/175THANNIVERSARY/HERITAGEICONS/Pages/May-RottnestIsland.aspx
Read: 05.06.16

History Council of Western Australia – Rottnest Island:
http://www.historycouncilwa.org.au/advocacy/rottnest-island
Read: 05.06.16

Experience Perth – Rottnest Island:
http://www.experienceperth.com/destinations/rottnest-island
Read: 05.06.16

ABC, News – Rottnest Lodge redevelopment:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-24/rottnest-lodge-redevelopment-plan/6044268
Read: 05.06.16