Rottnest Island Wadjemup is highly valued by Western Australians, as well as drawing national and international visitors. It is a unique and important cultural heritage precinct where human interaction with the natural systems over time has formed a distinctive landscape. The island has a wide range of touchpoints; natural, maritime, colonial, Aboriginal, recreational and military.

The RIA required a plan to identify the island’s cultural landscape significance and provide recommendations for the care and management of its heritage values. The Cultural Landscape Management Plan (CLMP) was prepared collaboratively with careful and meaningful stakeholder engagement; particularly with Aboriginal stakeholders where a sensitive and respective approach, commensurate with the island’s difficult history of incarceration, was required.

We led an interdisciplinary team of specialist heritage practitioners to complete unprecedented work in investigating, understanding and articulating cultural values. Our CLMP provided a range of recommendations to assist with recognition and ongoing management.

The CLMP encapsulated best practice heritage management, assessed against national and world standards, and sought to enhance the visitor experience and build community connections. This is now acknowledged as a key methodology for comparable studies and forms one of the RIA’s primary management documents.

• Heritage planning and strategic advice
• Cultural Landscape Management Plan
• Stakeholder engagement
• Interpretation