Rottnest Island’s beauty belies a history of Aboriginal incarceration and unmarked graves

CNN reports on Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) as a world‑renowned tourist destination that also hides a brutal colonial legacy: it housed Aboriginal prisoners from 1838 to 1902, many died in unmarked graves, and modern efforts—truth‑telling projects, memorialization, and Aboriginal‑led cultural tours—seek to acknowledge and reconcile this history while preserving the island’s ongoing cultural significance.