Remembrance day at WA's Wadjemup (Rottnest Island)
Oct 15, 2014, 07:43 AM
First Nations people from across Western Australia will travel to Rottnest Island, or Wadjemup, to remember their ancestors who were brought there in chains.
The island's former prison, 19 kilometres from the Perth coastline, incarcerated thousands of people from as far as the Kimberley, Pilbara, Western Desert and across Nyungah lands.
It's believed at least 370 and possibly up to 700 men and boys are buried in unmarked graves on the island, which is now a tourist destination.
Friday marks 175 years since the first prisoners were brought there and remembrance co-organiser Iva Hayward-Jackson says the event will become annual.