Paradise with a hidden past: Rottnest Island’s dark chapter
Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) off Western Australia is famed for beaches and quokkas, but hides a brutal history as Australia’s prison for Aboriginal men and boys for 93 years, with about 4,000 inmates and 373 deaths, many buried in unmarked graves; the burial ground later became the Tentland camping ground until 2007, and now truth-telling and memorial projects (Wadjemup Wirin Bidi) and cultural tours seek to acknowledge and heal the past.
