Western Australian Sites
Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) Coastal Walk Trail
intro / overview / images / presentation / location
Landscape Architects: ECOSCAPE (Australia) Pty ltd
location: Rottnest Island, west of Perth
OVERVIEW
Rottnest Island is one of Western Australia’s tourism icons.
The social and environmental attributes and associated values of the Island are immense and their complexity and richness are rare. To cater to more than 500,000 visitors annually, the Rottnest Island Authority (RIA) recognises the need for a walk trail that allows access to the Island’s many beautiful natural features and its wealth of cultural history, but also allows for the Island to be managed sustainably.
The RIA set out clear project objectives in the brief for the Trail:
- enhance visitor experience through various trail experiences highlighting environmental, historical and cultural significance
- create opportunities for training and employment of Indigenous youth
- protect the visitor from coastal risk issues
- create opportunities to communicate educative and sustainable management messages
- create opportunities to improve visitor yield and numbers
- rehabilitate existing erosion areas and potential erosion prone sites
- reduce human impact on the coastal dune systems
concept
The unifying idea that is a recurrent theme in the walk trail experience is:
“together steady, steady” or “danjoo dabbacaan”
The concept is to establish a relationship between the environment and its multiple histories so the visitor can openly appreciate and make sense of them. It is hoped that through the Coastal Walk Trail, the visitor will experience an attitudinal shift towards an understanding of the cross-cultural values of the land. A network of three trail systems is proposed to let the landscape tell the story of “living the dreaming”. One trail runs straight down the centre spine of the Island; a second circumnavigates the Island; and a third weaves in and out of the inland hills and lakes. The interpretation will be balanced between the story of contemporary Aboriginal spiritual connection to the land and the prison history of the Settlement.
intent
The sharing of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal landscape values of the Island is seen as the key to creating the necessary mind shift in the visitor that encourages care for the Island. A cross-cultural participatory approach to landscape planning was required to interpret the new and old cultural and natural dynamics of the Island. The underlying yet tangible results of this approach will be a walk trail that encourages the informed visitor to conserve and respect the Island, and learn from their experiences in a positive, modern way. This way, a relationship is established between the environment and its multiple histories so that the visitor can openly appreciate and make sense of them.
SPECIAL FACTORS:
- Design process inclusive of Indigenous culture
- Participatory as well as consultative process
- Cultural Induction provided the design team with a “Welcome to Country” ceremony, presentations of current historic research of Aboriginal significance as well as tours of significant sites in the Settlement and around the Island
- Trail planning complements other Indigenous and non- Indigenous land management initiatives on the Island
- Design of walk trail promotes shared cross-cultural experience
- Locating trail system on existing trails and brushing of trails
- Trail location and content promotes environmental protection
- Sacred sites are avoided
BUDGET: Consultation Fee $42,905.00 + GST
(STAGE 1 Landscape Assessment and Concept Plan)
planning
The RIA sees the need for a coastal walk trail to manage environmental degradation on the Island due to increased visitation. At the same time, the RIA and its Indigenous custodians are making a genuine effort to give a balanced portrayal of what happened to Indigenous people on the Island. The trail project presented the opportunity for landscape planning to be the catalyst for strengthening and nurturing the environment as well as Island and Aboriginal relations.
A design team that involved Aboriginal people was paramount. A cross-cultural design academic, Grant Revell, joined the team and identified the appropriate Indigenous team members – an Elder, Karen Jacobs, and an Indigenous cultural consultant, Noel Nannup. Ecoscape managed the team and the Elder of the Island was the lead. Both Karen and Noel are involved professionally in Indigenous heritage and cultural tourism, on a local, national and international level. The Indigenous members of the design team provided the cultural content as well as professional tourism expertise. The landscape architects provided the site reconnaissance; consultation and survey of stakeholders; research of relevant documents; environmental and cultural assessment mapping; design; graphics and report documentation.
sustainability
For Aboriginal people, nature and culture are not separate. So in the planning of this coastal walk trail, the location of the trail reveals the meaning of the landscape. The placement of the trail becomes the catalyst for the future interpretation of the landscape for the visitor. It is the intent of the Authority that the inclusion of the Island’s Indigenous custodians from the onset of the project will carry through to inclusiveness in trail construction, management and interpretation.
The planning of the trail system improves biodiversity by addressing coastal risk and processes, converting existing tracks into managed trails, and protecting remnant vegetation and habitats. The location of the trail becomes a catalyst for education about the specific local ecologies and their cultural values.
The trail is an important integrator of all of the existing layers of cultural history on the Island including a significant military base, European colonisation and many heritage components still present, including the oldest, still-used, original intact streetscape in Australia, and a maritime history that includes 13 shipwrecks.
This model of inclusive landscape planning across cultures is relevant to the profession because respect for Indigenous cultures is essential to the responsible design and appreciation of the land. The design of the walk trail compliments other agenda on the Island that the Indigenous people have set in motion such as ceremonies, historical research, and the development of a visitor centre and burial ground memorial. The planning process for the walk trail has identified locations and sequence of experiences that allows the Island to be experienced as a unified whole across cultures. The planning document will be used by the Rottnest Island Authority to secure funding and guide future land planning and interpretation on the Island.
CLIENT STATEMENT:
“Ecoscape brought more to the project than originally envisioned. With the inclusion of Indigenous cultural consultants Noel Nannup and Karen Jacobs, as well as Grant Revell, a lecturer in cross-cultural landscape architecture, on their team, the concept plan has introduced a set of three trails that build on Aboriginal interpretation of the land and seasons. This has added value and depth to the Coastal Walk Trail and to the associated interpretation explored in the concept plan. In addition, the plan itself is a valuable resource pulling together information on the natural values of the Island, topography, climatic conditions and key sites of interest to visitors.”
Nicola Patrick, Senior Environmental Officer, Rottnest Island Authority, 2008
Client Rottnest Island Authority (RIA)
Project Team:
Karen Jacobs Rottnest Island Aboriginal Elder and Indigenous Heritage & Cultural Tourism Consultant
Noel Nannup Indigenous Cultural Consultant
Grant Revell UWA Senior Lecturer
Mary Warinner Ecoscape Principal Landscape Architect
Nicky Markham Senior Landscape Architect
In association with
Dr Mike Bamford Bamford Consulting (Fauna Consultant)
Peter Boyer Dennis, Price & Millar (Civil Engineer)
intro / overview / images / presentation / location
April 2008
