Rottnest Island: The dark history behind an Australian paradise
CNN • • world
Key Points:
- Rottnest Island, known as Wadjemup to the Noongar people, is a popular tourist destination in Western Australia but also a site of profound Aboriginal history, including being the location of Australia’s largest number of Aboriginal deaths in custody.
- From 1838 to 1902, Wadjemup served as a prison for Aboriginal boys and men, many of whom were forcibly transported from distant regions and subjected to harsh labor and brutal conditions, with nearly 4,000 incarcerated and 373 deaths, mostly buried in unmarked graves.
- After the prison closed, the island was transformed into a tourist resort, with the main cell block converted into accommodation and the burial grounds used as a campsite for decades, often without visitors' awareness of
