About us
The Rottnest Society (Inc.) is a 'friends' group for Rottnest and came into being in 1984 as a direct response to huge public concern about the Burke government's plans for an international hotel, international golf course and international marina. It was incorporated in 1985 as a not-for-profit organisation and it continues as such today. It has no office and no employees.
All management and organisational activities are carried out from, and meetings are held in, the homes of committee members. The Society does a lot of work making submissions to government and the Rottnest Island Authority with its major focus for this work being the natural environment of the publicly owned A-class Reserve which is Rottnest Island. It also attempts to educate the wider public about issues as they arise. During each year we host talks by scientists on various aspects of the natural environment of Rottnest. Since 1997 the Society has made a significant input into the Rottnest Island Authority's revegetation programme on Rottnest by organising four tree planting weekends per year with approximately 50 volunteers each time, plus a smaller weeding weekend. We are responsible for planting between one quarter and one half of the 50,000 trees planted each year. In this way we are working to ensure that new generations are developing a level of understanding of some of the problems which face West Australians in managing Rottnest for a sustainable future.
We have recently been working on the development of this website. Through this website we wish to do several things:
The work of The Rottnest Society benefits the wider West Australian public (the owners of Rottnest Island) through 'hands-on' conservation and restoration work, the detailed submission making on management plans, proposed developments and environmental issues, and the involvement of several generations of West Australians in these activities.
