A $40 million redevelopment of the Rottnest Island Lodge has been given approval, but there are conditions to ensure the site’s significant Indigenous history is acknowledged.
Key points:
- Whadjuk Noongar language will be used to name the new 102-room hotel
- Work on the Lodge will start in mid-2022 with completion due in 2025
- It will feature a restaurant, a cafe, a wellness centre and two pools
The popular holiday island, off the coast of Fremantle in Western Australia, is known by the Whadjuk Noongar people as Wadjemup.
The approval is conditional on an Aboriginal cultural heritage plan for the site and using Whadjuk Noongar language to name the new 102-room hotel, while the Whadjuk people will also provide advice and monitor the project.
This will help acknowledge the island was used as a prison for almost 4,000 Aboriginal men and boys from across Western Australia between 1838 and 1931.
The former Tentland camping ground for tourists, now known as the Wadjemup Aboriginal Burial Ground, is where at least 373 Aboriginal men are buried in unmarked graves.
It is the largest deaths in custody site in Australia and the largest known burial ground of Aboriginal people.
A consortium led by Place Development has been given the green light to start redeveloping the Lodge from mid-2022, with completion due in 2025.
New lodge will have cafe, restaurant and wellness centre
As well as 102 accommodation rooms, there will be food and beverage outlets, a cafe, a restaurant with a focus on Western Australian produce, a wellness centre and two pools.
The developers will have to have a Whadjuk Aboriginal Monitor present on site during excavation works or ground disturbance activity.
They will also need to engage heritage practitioners to advise on the build.
The former 29-cell prison, known as the Quod, adjoining the Lodge, which was closed as holiday accommodation in 2018, is not part of the redevelopment project and will not form part of the new hotel.
Tourism Minister Roger Cook said he was pleased the project had been approved.
“Importantly, the conditions applied to this redevelopment will help ensure the significant heritage of the site is acknowledged.
“It is important for Wadjemup to embrace its future with deep respect for the past.”
Development too tall for volunteer group
Ian Macrae is the deputy convenor of volunteer group, The Rottnest Society.
He expressed general support for the redevelopment but thought it was too tall, reaching more than 7 metres in part.
He believed that was unnecessary.
“It could be dealt with [by] the development hugging the contours and being stepped down, rather than just sort of jutting out over the contour,” he said.
He was also concerned the refurbishment and protection of the Quod would not happen.
“There is a need for the Quod to be addressed, to protect its heritage and reinforce it, and that’s just been put off into the future,” Mr Macrae said.
