Rottnest Island

About

Rottnest Island (Wajuk: Wadjemup), nicknamed "Rotto", is a 19-square-kilometre (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, it is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land. With Garden Island, Rottnest Island is a remnant of Pleistocene dune ridges. Along with several other islands, Rottnest became separated from the mainland when sea levels rose around 7,000 years ago. The traditional Noongar name for the island is Wadjemup, which means 'place across the water where the spirits are'. The earliest recorded human presence on Rottnest was at least 17,000 years ago, but visitation and habitation of the island by the Noongar people appears to have ceased following its separation from the mainland. Rottnest was first documented by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696, who called it 't Eylandt 't Rottenest (lit. 'Rats' Nest Island') after the quokka population. Following establishment of the Swan River Colony (now Perth) in 1829, the island was initially used by British settlers for agriculture, and a permanent settlement was built in Thomson Bay....

See also: Australian Aboriginal prehistoric sites During the late Pleistocene, when sea levels were lower, present-day Rottnest Island, Carnac Island and Garden Island were attached to the Western Australian mainland by a low-lying carbonate sand plain. When sea levels were at their lowest, around 18,000 years ago, Rottnest would have formed "a conspicuous hill, high above the surrounding coastal plain" and approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the mainland coastline. Rising sea levels submerged the continental shelf and isolated Rottnest in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, with separation from the mainland occurring approximately 6,500 years ago. Sea levels continued to rise and by around 5,900 years ago the modern salt lakes in the centre of Rottnest had been inundated, resulting in the formation of up to ten smaller islands. Subsequent regressions returned the island to a single insular landform.

Archaeological evidence exists for human occupation of Rottnest prior to its separation from the mainland, comprising stone artefacts found in palaeosols in various locations on the island. As of 2019 [update], six chert artefacts and four calcrete artefacts have been identified from sites at Charlotte Point, Little Armstrong Bay and Bathurst Point. A feldspar pebble has also tentatively been identified as a gastrolith or manuport. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of the artefact-bearing palaeosols suggests the earliest recorded human presence on Rottnest was at least 17,000 years ago. It has been suggested that the relative lack of recorded artefacts may be due to site loss from sea level changes and due to Rottnest's exposed position rendering it less suitable for human occupation than lower-lying sites which were later submerged.

The Noongar name for Rottnest is Wadjemup, meaning ' place across the water where the spirits are '. The mention of spirits is because before its separation from the mainland, it served as an Aboriginal burial ground. There is no material evidence or oral tradition of Aboriginal occupation of Rottnest after its separation from the mainland and prior to European colonisation. A Noongar creation myth recorded by George Fletcher Moore in the 1830s held that Rottnest and other offshore islands "once formed part of the mainland, and that the intervening ground was thickly covered with trees; which took fire in some unaccountable way, and burned with such intensity that the ground split asunder with a great noise, and the sea rushed in between, cutting off these islands from the mainland". By the time of European exploration in the 1600s, the island is thought to have been unoccupied for thousands of years.

In 2006, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that native title did not exist over Rottnest Island, as part of a ruling that recognised the claim of the Noongar people to native title over the Perth metropolitan area. Rottnest Island was later included in the South West Native Title Settlement between the Western Australian government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, which came into effect in 2021. The island is covered by an Indigenous Land Use Agreement between the state government and the Whadjuk people.

The island was observed and explored by various Dutch, French and English maritime expeditions from around 1619 onward, including by Frederick de Houtman around 28 July 1619.

The first Europeans known to have landed on Rottnest Island were about 14 sailors from a Dutch expedition, including Abraham Leeman van Santwits from Waeckende Boey, who landed near Bathurst Point on 19 March 1658 while their ship was careened nearby. Waeckende Boey (under command of Samuel Volkersen) had been searching for survivors of Vergulde Draeck, which had been wrecked off the western coast of Australia in April 1656.

Volkersen described the island in his journal:

In slightly under 32° S. Lat. there is a large island, at about 3 miles' distance from the mainland of the South-land ; this island has high mountains, with a good deal of brushwood and many thornbushes, so that it is hard to go over; here certain animals are found, since we saw many excrements, and besides two seals and a wild cat, resembling a civet-cat, but with browner hair. This island is dangerous to touch at, owing to the rocky reefs which are level with the water and below the surface, almost along the whole length of the shore; between it and the mainland there are also numerous rocks and reefs, and slightly more to southward there is another small island.

This large island to which we have been unwilling to give a name, leaving this matter to the Honourable Lord Governor-General's pleasure, may be seen at 7 or 8 miles' distance out at sea in fine weather. I surmise that brackish or freshwater might be obtainable there, and likewise good firewood, but not without great trouble.

In his 1681 chart, English captain John Daniel marked an island as Maiden's Isle, possibly referring to Rottnest. The name did not survive, however. [ citation needed ]

The island was given the name ' t Eylandt 't Rottenest ( transl. Rats' Nest Island ; the quokkas were mistaken for large rats) by Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh, who spent six days exploring the island from 29 December 1696. De Vlamingh led a fleet of three ships, De Geelvink, De Nijptang and Weseltje, searching for the survivors of Ridderschap van Holland that had gone missing two years earlier, and anchored on the northern side of the island, near the Basin. He described the island as "pleasurable above all islands I have ever seen—a paradise on earth". During their time on the island, they found no people. Holes were dug on the island, yielding water of good drinking quality. They also noted that the wood from the trees on the island had an exquisite scent – akin to rosewood – and a quantity was cut and brought on board the ship.

Other explorers who stopped at the island included members of the French expedition of Nicholas Baudin in Naturaliste and Géographe in 1801 (when he planted a flag and left a bottle with a letter) and 1803, Phillip Parker King in 1822, and Captain James Stirling in 1827. Early visitors commonly reported that much of the island was heavily wooded, which is not the case today.

In 1831, shortly after the establishment of the British Swan River Colony at nearby Fremantle, William Clarke and Robert Thomson received land grants for town lots and pasture land on the island. Thomson immediately moved to the island with his wife and eight children. He developed pasture land for hay production west of Herschel Lake as well as salt harvesting from the several salt lakes which was then exported to the mainland settlement. Salt was an important commodity before the advent of refrigeration. [ citation needed ]

The Colonial Secretary, Peter Broun, announced in June 1839 that the island would be converted to "an Establishment for the Aborigines", and between 1838 and 1931 (except for the period from 1849 to 1855) Rottnest was used as an Aboriginal prison. Henry Vincent, the Gaoler at Fremantle, was put in charge of the establishment. Six Aboriginal prisoners were sent to Rottnest Island in August 1838 under the superintendence of Constable Laurence Welch and a small military force: Helia, for murder; Buoyeen, for assault; Molly Dobbin, Tyoocan, Goodap and Cogat, for theft. All six escaped shortly after their arrival by stealing Thomson's boat. Helia drowned during the crossing, but the others apparently survived.

On 7 December 1848, there was another escape by Aboriginal prisoners, with eight out of the 10 prisoners then on the island escaping. Those who escaped came from the north and eastward. "The plan of escape, as related by one of themselves, exhibits considerable foresight and sagacity, being not only well conceived, but as well executed". The Aboriginals burrowed under the sill door until there was room for them to all pass underneath. They all then crept over the roof of Vincent's kitchen and proceeded to the salt house, through the window of which they got out a dinghy which was confined there. They then went to the pilot's whaleboat moored a short distance offshore, and succeeded in getting to the mainland 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of Fremantle. Five of the escapees were retaken by J. Drummond at Toodyay.

A quadrangular building was constructed between 1863 and 1864, and which is generally referred to as the Quod (deriving from the abbreviation quod for quadrangle ); it was used for tourist accommodation until 2018, when it was closed after decades of protests by Aboriginal people. There were about twenty prisoners there in 1844; by 1880, there were 170. Vincent retired in 1867 after complaints regarding cruelty to prisoners; he was replaced by William Jackson. In the early 1880s, an influenza epidemic struck, killing about sixty inmates.

In 1902, the abolition of the prison was announced. At that time, there were 33 Aboriginal prisoners serving sentences there. However, the prison continued to be used as a forced labour camp for Aboriginal prisoners until 1931.

Of the approximately 3,600 people imprisoned over the 93 years the prison existed, at least 373 people died and were buried in unmarked graves in at least two areas to the north of the Quod. It is the largest known deaths in custody grave site in Australia.. There may be as many as 369 inmates' graves on the island; one writer has suggested that 95% of the deaths were from influenza. In 2015—after numerous protests from local Aboriginal people for the Rottnest Island Authority to create a memorial recognising the events, deaths and unmarked graves which lie on Rottnest Island—work began on the Wadjemup Aboriginal Burial Ground. As of June 2016 [update] buildings have been removed from the site and a pathway constructed around it. Prior to the closure of the tourist camp in 2018, the burial ground was being used as a spot to pitch tents..

Historical records note that the first cemetery, likely adjacent to the European cemetery, became full following an outbreak of influenza in 1883 and that a second was established further away from the prison. The area is now known as the Wadjemup Aboriginal Burial Ground. Although slavery, as legally defined, was never widespread in Western Australia (and, indeed, called blackbirding rather than plain slavery in the pearling industry ), the "assignment" system effectively implemented a system of forced labour, and was condemned by Reverend J. B. Gribble and the Anti-Slavery Society. Aboriginal people who refused assignment were sent to Rottnest Island to be "civilised", and were used in chain gangs to perform hard labour, including farming, quarrying and collecting salt. Most of the island's historic Settlement—including Government House (Hotel Rottnest), the church, Salt Store, museum, gift shop, original waterfront cottages and The Quod—was built by forced Aboriginal prison labour working under extremely harsh conditions.