Just 19 kilometers off the coast of Perth lies Wadjemup, a stunning limestone island that’s part of a rugged chain of reefs on the continental shelf. It’s a natural paradise today, but its geology tells a wild story of rising and falling oceans. One of the coolest features here is the inland salt lake system. These 12 shallow lakes were actually a series of deep caves until rain and groundwater dissolved the ceilings, causing them to collapse and trap seawater as the levels rose over thousands of years.
At one point, Wadjemup wasn’t an island at all—it was connected to the mainland by dunes. Artifacts show that the Whadjuk Noongar people lived here until about 6,500 years ago, when the post-Ice Age thaw finally cut the island off from the rest of Australia. This isolation turned the island into a sanctuary, allowing the famous Quokka (or Kwoka) population to flourish without any natural predators to worry about!
However, the island’s history isn’t all white sand and cute marsupials. After European settlement, it became the site of the Rottnest Island Aboriginal Establishment—a prison and forced labor camp. For nearly a century (1838–1931), around 3,700 Aboriginal men and boys were imprisoned here, marking a very somber chapter in the island’s long story.
The “holiday” era we know today didn’t really kick off until 1902, when the first ferries started arriving—though back then, you could only visit on Sundays! By 1907, it officially became a recreation destination, and aside from being closed during the World Wars, it has remained the ultimate West Coast escape ever since.
