42 Australian Geographic
combing its 63 sandy beaches – or pedal-pushing along scrubby,
limestone ridges – that it’s held in great af ection. So keen are
people to maintain Rottnest’s simplicity that saltwater showers
in the visitor accommodation were only upgraded to freshwater
in the 1990s and televisions weren’t introduced to rooms until
- About 500,000 people visit each year and nearly half of
those have been to Rottnest 10 or more times.
“West Australians are very attached to Rottnest,” says Dirk
Hessels. “That’s why every time [the authority] wants to develop
something, people are against it. They want to leave it as is.”
Dirk, 83, has visited Rottnest every year since 1951, when he
fi rst started diving and fi shing in its waters. “If you don’t like
swimming and fi shing, Rottnest isn’t the island for you. There’s
no nightclub,” he says. “When I was younger, we’d see millions
of crayfi sh in very shallow water. We’d put heaps of them in the
boat, and we’d spear kingfi sh, grouper and snapper.”
The warm (23°C in summer, 19°C in winter) Leeuwin Cur-
rent, which fl ows south around Rottnest, means diverse coral
gardens and more than 130 tropical fi sh species can survive in
this southern reach of the Indian Ocean. In contrast, the wider
region’s coastal waters only support 11 tropical fi sh species. In
deeper waters, crayfi sh thrive in an undersea trench known as
the Perth Canyon, a place where blue whales come to feed on
shrimp and humpbacks pass by on their annual migration. Closer
to Rottnest’s shores, large seagrass meadows provide habitat
for hundreds of other species. Seven marine sanctuary zones
have been set up to protect them and form part of the island’s
3800ha of marine reserve.
The island was proclaimed an A-class reserve in 1917 and the
RIA is “committed to striving to achieve sustainability in line
with its vision that Rottnest Island is a model of ethical tourism
based on fi nancial, environmental and social sustainability”.
Roland Mau took over the management of the island’s land
and ocean life a decade ago, the same year he proposed to his
wife at one of Rottnest’s secluded bays. Employed by the RIA,
Roland manages the island’s marine and terrestrial reserves. He
and his staf walk the tightrope between protecting the environ-
ment and allowing visitors to enjoy it. “I’ve found you can strike
a balance,” he says. “It’s the playground of people in Perth but
they’ve got a really strong sense of ownership over it.”
Aside from introducing environmentally friendly boat moor-
ings, overseeing forest revegetation and building eco boardwalks
that make coastal rehabilitation possible, Roland’s current
projects include the Coastal Walk Trail.“West Australians are very attached to Rottnest.
That’s why every time the RIA wants to develop
something, people are against it.”Repairing earlier damage.
The manager of Rottnest Island Authority’s
marine and terrestrial reserve, Roland
Mau, inspects new plantings of trees
and bushes at Parker Point.Continued page 46