Rottnest Island: The Day Trip That Has Become a Global Brand

Rottnest Island, 18 kilometres offshore from Fremantle and accessible by a 25-minute ferry journey from the Fremantle passenger terminal or a 90-minute ferry from the Barrack Street Jetty in the Perth CBD, has become one of Australia's most visited nature tourism destinations and one of the world's most recognised wildlife photography locations through the global spread of the quokka selfie phenomenon. The quokka, the small marsupial that lives on the island in large numbers and that has no natural predators there, approaches humans with the fearlessness that predator-free island environments produce and that the photogenic encounter photographs that visitors share on social media have made internationally famous.

The island's beaches, varying in character from the exposed ocean beaches of the north coast to the sheltered turquoise coves of the south coast that the Rottnest snorkelling itinerary typically focuses on, provide some of the finest beach snorkelling in Western Australia, with the coral communities that the warm Leeuwin Current sustains providing the underwater environment that attracts the marine life that snorkellers seek. The combination of the beach quality, the wildlife, and the car-free atmosphere (private motor vehicles are prohibited; visitors move by bicycle, walking, or the hop-on hop-off bus) creates the visitor experience that justifies the premium that the ferry and accommodation costs add to what is otherwise a relatively modest distance from Perth.

The island's Aboriginal history, as the site of the Wadjemup Island Prison where Aboriginal men from across Western Australia were incarcerated during the colonial period in conditions of extreme deprivation, provides the dark heritage dimension that the island's contemporary tourism joy conceals unless the visitor specifically seeks it. The Wadjemup Aboriginal Cultural Centre and the guided cultural tours that the Rottnest Island Authority supports have been part of the reconciliation of the island's dual character as a site of trauma and a site of recreation.

The Rottnest Swim, the open water swimming event from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island that has become one of the world's largest open water swimming events, provides the annual sporting spectacle that uses the island as the destination for a crossing of the 19.7-kilometre channel that the combination of distance, shipping traffic, and the occasional shark presence makes genuinely challenging. The event's growth from a small handful of participants to thousands of swimmers in individual and relay categories reflects the growth of open water swimming as a participation sport in Australia.

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