Playing Lotto with Rotto? Tourism, the environment and gambling with the ethos of a Western Australian island

Abstract

Rottnest Island is a popular holiday destination offshore from Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Rottnest (or Rotto) attracts approximately 500 000 visitors annually. The island is managed by a statutory government authority, the Rottnest Island Authority (RIA), for the purposes of providing recreation and holiday facilities and services, and protecting its natural and cultural values. While there are advantages in management by one body, there appears to be a conflict in managing both the tourism business and the environment, largely as a result of funding issues. While further tourism development would boost the RIA's self-funded operating budget, increased pressures may compromise the island environment and the Rottnest ethos, which revolves around a relaxed and casual social ambiance. The RIA aims to develop Rottnest as a model for sustainability, but are dilemmas surrounding economic sustainability potentially risking the island's environmental and social sustainability? This paper concludes that in the pursuit of economic returns from tourism, Rottnest Island's environmental and social values face an uncertain future.

Keywords:

• Island
• tourism
• environmental management
• ethos
• governance
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Elaine Stratford and Michael Lockwood from the School of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania for their constructive comments on draft versions of the paper. I am also grateful to Robert Anders, also of the School, for producing the map (Figure 1), and to the referee and editor for providing useful comments.

Notes

1. The other three case study islands are Bruny Island in Tasmania, Phillip Island in Victoria and Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

2. Criterion sampling involved identifying participants from publicly available information, based on their position or involvement with Rottnest Island. Snowball sampling was carried out as interviews proceeded: this procedure ‘yields a study sample through referrals made among people who share or know of others who possess some characteristics that are of research interest’ (Biernacki & Waldorf 1981, p. 141).

3. Somerville went on to become a member of the Rottnest Island Board from 1929 and he had a major influence on the landscape of the island, particularly through his reforestation work (Hercock 1996).

4. In Western Australia the security of tenure of Crown land reserves varies, depending upon whether the reserve is Class A, B or C. Class A affords the greatest degree of protection for reserved lands, requiring approval of parliament to amend the reserve's purpose or area, or to cancel the reservation. The A classification is used solely to protect areas of high conservation or high community value (Department of Planning and Infrastructure 2006). A Class Reserves are regulated under the Land Administration Act 1997. The A Class Reserve has three components: the marine reserve (which extends 800 m seawards), the terrestrial reserve and the settlement.

5. The Australian Heritage Commission has compiled this Register since 1976; it includes places of natural, historic and Indigenous significance. Rottnest has one of Australia's oldest intact streetscapes, and after the former Port Arthur penal settlement in Tasmania, is the most significant example of colonial architecture in Australia (Rottnest Island Authority 2006a).

6. There are three other islands near Perth but two of these are nature reserves and one is managed by the Department of Defence.

7. The Tourism Minister states that the RIA retaining control of the Reserve ‘will ensure the decisions making responsibility will remain with one minister and one government agency, whilst … acknowledging the importance of seeking support, consultation and agreement on decisions, as appropriate, with key stakeholders’ (Parliament of Western Australia 2007aAustralia 2007n.p.).

8. ‘Blotto’ is a colloquial term meaning drunkenness.

9. Period of celebration for leaving students at the end of the school year.

10. Joske et al. (1995) note that opinion over Rottnest's ambience is divided; some people hate it. More importantly, to many Indigenous Western Australians, Rottnest or Wadjemup is known primarily as a prison and there are obvious tensions between this past use of the island and its current use as a holiday island.

11. Seddon (1983), pp. 35–6) acknowledges that ‘because of the special place islands hold in our imagination, the way in which we reach them is very important to some people … [The ferry] is tradition, and thus begins ‘the Rottnest experience’ at the jetty, slowing the clock [and it includes] an element of simplification and a rejection of high technology’. However, ferries now go at full rip … the hydrofoil zaps across there in 25 minutes from Fremantle at high cost (SG3).

12. The affinity of mainlanders for islands in the absence of permanent residents is also evident in the case of Lancelin Island, 100 km north of Perth. Revitt and Sanders (2002) investigated conflicts regarding public use of the island, particularly balancing ecotourism with conservation, which are issues of importance to the mainland community of Lancelin.

13. Like the surfaces of many limestone islands (Nunn 2007), Rottnest is of low relief and has an underlying freshwater lens which rests above limestone saturated with sea water.

14. I am in no way suggesting that RIA staff are deliberately neglecting the island's environmental and social values in favour of economic gain. Rather, I believe that staff (particularly those who have the opportunity to live on the island) hold the place in great affection.