Cultural warning
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.
Wadjemup is a significant site for Whadjuk Noongar people and Aboriginal people Statewide. Prior to colonisation and continuing today, Wadjemup is recognised as a spiritual place for Noongar people and is linked to the Koordarm, creation stories.
The traumatic impacts of colonisation and the Aboriginal prison history that followed on the Island have been obscured and inadequately acknowledged for too long. For nearly a century, Rottnest Island was used as a place of incarceration, segregation and forced labour for over 3,700 Aboriginal men and boys who were forcibly taken from regions across WA – Whadjuk and Noongar Country more broadly, Murchinson, Gascoyne, Goldfields, Pilbara, Kimberley and the Central Desert. Boys as young as seven years old and men as old as eighty years old were imprisoned on the Island. Of those taken there, almost 400 died while imprisoned, and were buried in unmarked graves on the Island. This is the largest recorded Aboriginal deaths in custody site in Australia.
Truth-telling is central to the Wadjemup Project and will be an ongoing process throughout future stages.
The Wadjemup Project is currently in Stage 1: Truth-telling and Consultation. Please note, this webpage will continue to be updated with further details as the project progresses.
Wadjemup Project Progress Report
The Wadjemup Project Progress Report details the historical and contemporary events and issues that underpin the Project, including an overview of the long-term concealment of Aboriginal prison history on the Island, the impacts on Aboriginal people across generations, and the efforts of the people who have contributed to reconciliation and the search for truth, acknowledgement and commemoration of the Aboriginal men and boys who were incarcerated and died on the Island.
The Progress Report is intended to support and inform community consultation on memorialisation of the Wadjemup Aboriginal Burial Ground and the future use of the Quod, while keeping culture at the heart through every stage of the process.
In outlining progress to date, the Progress Report helps to frame the conversation by defining the Whadjuk Noongar Project Protocols and Wadjemup Project Pillars that have been developed to date through the development of the Cultural Authority Framework. The Project Pillars will both inform, and be expanded on, through State-wide consultation.
Other resources
Wadjemup prisoner links
This interactive map produced by Aboriginal Productions and Promotions references names of Aboriginal prisoners in connection to the Country they were taken from when imprisoned on Rottnest Island:
Survivors of Wadjemup
Survivors of Wadjemup (vimeo.com)
This film was developed by Rottnest Island Authority and Minang-Wadjari Nyungar man, Glen Stasiuk from BlackRussian Productions. The short film is currently on display at the Wadjemup Museum.
