The Past Is Still Present

After the prison closed, knowledge of one of the largest Aboriginal cemeteries in Australia was lost.

The place where Aboriginal lore men, leaders, Elders, and boys died and brutally suffered became a state-run tourist destination in the early twentieth century. Throughout the decades that followed tourists flocked to the Island. The Quod became a resort and the Aboriginal Cemetery became a budget camping ground, known as Tentland. The Aboriginal prisoners buried underfoot were forgotten.

“I have once [visited the quod]. I don't want to go back. I feel despair, you know, and I feel a lot of hurt. I went to the Roundhouse [in Fremantle] and I walked into the first cell and I nearly fell on my knees, so I had to get out because I couldn't breathe. I just think that's probably where Kudjil was, you know, and when they took them over to Rottnest, so I felt that spirit and it was very despairing.”

— Margaret Gidgup, Whadjuk Nyoongar and descendant of Kudjil

“…if this was a Wadjula Cemetery, there would be crosses and it'd be fenced off and there'd be a little building and tell me everything about it. There'd be a church, or something, you know, there would be like Karrakatta, and people don't want to do anything about it. Why? Well, what's the difference? People are buried here. So, it doesn't matter whether they're our people or their people or who's people are buried here.”

— Stan Headland Nyoongar artist and Wadjemup Aboriginal monitor

Graves Unearthed

During an interview in 1979 Mr Des Sullivan, the Rottnest Island Authority Manager explained that graves, set out in an orderly manner and a uniform depth, were discovered in 1970 when a sewerage scheme was being extended to the golf club. He indicated that the burial site was in a grove of pine trees and that the bodies were found at a depth of 1.8 metres in squared-off graves. However, historic records and ground penetrating radar evidence suggest that graves were not necessarily uniform, and men may have been buried at depths between 1.2 metres and 2.5 metres.

Although, the presence of human remains was initially reported to police, the discovery was not made public. Under the direction of the state government, the skeletons were reburied, and the sewer installed at a shallower depth.

Huts located in Tentland were named after planets and constellations. Bones were found near Sagittarius Hut in 1970. Courtesy Rottnest Island Museum RIA2016.410, RIA2011.480.

Action

Many people—particularly Aboriginal people—felt that failure to recognise the graves was callous and grossly disrespectful. So it was, in 1985, 14 years later, under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, (1972) (AHA), the cemetery was recorded. This was a significant moment as the cemetery was recognised and placed under the protection of the AHA legislation.

Three years later, in 1988, in the first of its kind on Wadjemup, a large gathering of over 250 Aboriginal men, women, and children joined together in protest. With united concern at the neglect of the graves, they called on the Western Australian Government to respond.

Stan Headland, Nyoongar artist and Aboriginal monitor of Wadjemup, attended the meeting in 1988 where then Minister Pam Beggs gave recommendations on the proposals from the Aboriginal community. “It was really good to have everyone there, to have that meeting about letting the white man know that we know,” Stan reflects.

Front page of the Fremantle Herald, Monday 14 January 1991. Courtesy Fremantle Herald.

This sign was erected by the Rottnest Island Deaths Group in 1993 to acknowledge the men and boys buried on Wadjemup. Rottnest Island Museum.

“...this is our Country, this is our history, this is our culture and that will never change. And it doesn't matter what, you know, colonisation does. If they destroy the land and they get rid of those sacred sites, that's going to be devastating for Aboriginal people. And I'm starting to see that now. So, it's very important to me that we bring these stories and the history alive and keep it going.”

— Margaret Gidgup, descendant from Kudjil ‘Crowman’ and Whadjuk Nyoongar Traditional Owner

Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

Today Whadjuk Nyoongar Elder Farley Garlett is heading the team who are leading Aboriginal communities across the state, paving the way forward towards healing.

In June 2020, the State Government issued a media release regarding The Wadjemup Project which proposes “commemorating Aboriginal ancestors buried on the island and developing the Quod”.

Whilst the echo of the past may be heard within its walls, it is the silence that stops you in your tracks. It speaks of healing to come, of ceremony and ritual. Waiting.

"As Whadjuk people we really appreciate the responsibility we have, under Aboriginal cultural protocol, to lead this engagement. It is a responsibility we take up in the spirit of healing and moving forward."

— Farley Garlett, Senior Whadjuk Nyoongar Elder

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