Riot police called in for ‘out of control’ youths on Rottnest Island

A “junior leavers” gathering got out of hand with PolAir brought in to monitor the chaos on a famous island.

Riot police and night vision cameras were brought in to bring an “out of control” gathering of teenagers on the iconic Rottnest Island to an end last week.

WA Police are investigating allegations of assault and disorderly behaviour after the “junior leavers” events on Friday night, with some youths taken into protective custody.

About 400 youths from Year 11 and under were on the island famous for its Quokkas and peaceful family holidays, roaming around largely unsupervised according to police.

Police air-wing footage of youths on Rottnest Island. Picture: WA Police

Some holiday-makers have reported being abused or assaulted, while police officers were allegedly pelted with bottles when they came to bring the situation under control.

In a statement, WA Police said it received “multiple complaints relating to a large number of juveniles” between Longreach and The Basin about 9.15pm on Friday night.

“Upon police attendance a large number of juveniles were observed to be consuming

alcohol and causing anti-social behaviour,” the force said.

“The officer in charge of Rottnest Island Police declared the incident an ‘Out of Control

Gathering’, which allowed resources from the Regional Operation Group (ROG) to be

deployed.”

Police said they are investigating reports of assaults. Picture: WA Police

One man, Issac, told 9 News he was hit from behind after he told off youths who were abusing his nine-year-old daughter.

“I went up to this group of boys and said, ‘you can’t talk like that to anyone. That’s my wife and daughter there’,” he said.

“And then that’s when they sort of got around me and started hitting me from behind and that’s when I fell over and came off second best.”

Fremantle District Superintendent Dave Dench told media on Monday the junior leavers event “has become a developing issue over the past three years”.

“The increased police presence this year was as a result of some issues that occurred last year,” he said.

“But certainly what happened over this weekend is the worst it’s been so far.”

A quokka on the idyllic Rottnest Island.

Supt Dench said the situation was caused by a “large number of intoxicated juveniles”.

“A number of juveniles were taken into protective custody,” he said.

“That was exacerbated by the fact that some of those juveniles didn’t have responsible adults that were even on Rottnest Island.

“That is the common theme at the moment in regards to these large gatherings that we have unsupervised juveniles with ready access to alcohol, whose parents are not directly supervising them.”

Junior leavers events have grown in popularity in Western Australia over the past decade, as a less-organised answer to Year 12 leavers parties – known as schoolies in the eastern states.

A Rottnest Island Authority spokesperson said minors were not permitted to be left unaccompanied.

“Any breaches of this can result in eviction from their accommodation and the island,” they said.