Rottnest Island: The Indian Ocean Paradise with its Famous Residents

Rottnest Island, accessible by a 90-minute ferry from Perth or 25 minutes from Fremantle, provides Perth with a holiday island destination of extraordinary quality within easy reach of the metropolitan population. The combination of 63 beaches and 20 bays in 19 square kilometres of island, the absence of private vehicles that creates an unusual quiet in a destination less than two hours from a major city, and the quokkas that inhabit the island in large numbers has made Rottnest one of the most photographed and most visited tourism destinations in Western Australia.

The quokka, a small marsupial that originally gave the island its Dutch name (Rotte Nest, or Rat's Nest), has become the island's defining attraction following the social media explosion of quokka selfies that began approximately in 2013 and has made the quokka one of the most globally recognised Australian animals despite the majority of Australians never having seen one in the wild. The quokkas' habituation to humans and their apparent willingness to participate in selfies has made Rottnest a pilgrimage destination for social media users who add the quokka selfie to their Australia experience checklist.

The island's coral and limestone reef system provides some of Western Australia's most accessible snorkelling and diving, with fish diversity and water clarity that the protected waters of the bay locations provide in conditions accessible to inexperienced snorkellers. The reefs' combination of temperate Australian species and the tropical species that the Leeuwin Current brings south from the tropics creates an unusual marine assemblage that underwater photographers find particularly rewarding.

The historical dimensions of Rottnest are less celebrated than its natural attributes but equally significant. The island served as a prison for Aboriginal men from across Western Australia from the 1830s to 1931, with more than 3,700 Aboriginal men imprisoned there and hundreds dying in custody. The Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) Reconciliation Task Force has worked to ensure that this history is acknowledged and interpreted alongside the island's natural and recreational character.

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