People involved		Rottnest Island Most West Australians go to Rottnest Island for leisure. The Delegation learned today that this is at odds with the grim penal history of the island. For many years Rottnest was a penal settlement and jail for Aboriginal men shipped from all over the state to be incarcerated there. Unlike today, life there was harsh. Many died, and it is only recently that the Rottnest Island Authority has overseen the discovery and protection of an Aboriginal graveyard. This forms a major step in reconciling the undoubted leisure value of the island and the importance of treating with respect its history and the sensitivities of Aboriginal people who have a tragic association with the place.   On a tour of the island we were able to enjoy its beauty and at the same time visit sites like ‘the quad’, which was a jail, and the holding cell on the beach in which prisoners were held until the governor saw fit to see them and assign them to their cells. The cell was instantly recognized by the Africans as it reminded them of their own sad history as the same structures are found on the east African coast where slaves were held before being shipped abroad.