Heritage sites, Archaeological discoveries, History of Archaeology

Rottnest Island

Location

Fremantle,Western Australia

Country

Australia

Year of Research

1830

Culture

Rottnest Island is situated at 18 km off the coast of the Western Australia, near Fremantle.
It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar citizens, meaning place across the water.
There were no people on the island when European discovery began in the 17th century, and the Aboriginal people did not have boats that could make their journey, so the island had probably been isolated for the several thousand years.
It is 11 kilometres long, and 4.5 kilometres at its widest point with a total land area of 19 km².
The Island is the classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the Rottnest Island Authority.
No private ownership of the land is allowed. It is antipodal to the island of Bermuda.
It was occupied by Aboriginal people from an around 30,000 years ago, until rising sea levels separated the island from the mainland of the Western Australia approximately 7,000 years ago.
The island features in Noongar People myths as Wadjemup.
People artefacts on the island have been dated from 6,500 to more than 30,000 years ago.