By Rebecca Peppiatt and Holly Thompson
Children as young as 13 were handed eviction and move on notices while others were taken into protective custody and a number of arrests were made when hundreds of high schools students gathered on Rottnest Island over the weekend.
Police said a number of assaults were reported over several days and more arrests were likely.
WA Police had to deploy the riot squad to deal with out-of-control schoolies on Rottnest Island over the weekend,Credit: WAtoday
Officers from the police riot squad rushed to Rottnest Island on Friday night to control around 400 high school students who were congregating in large groups, leading to the assault and abuse of other holidaymakers and police.
WAtoday understands the teens, believed to be year 11 students and younger – and mostly from private schools on Rottnest for what has become known as “juvie week” – spent the weekend trawling the island unsupervised.
One mother, who is on the island with her 11 and 13-year-old children, said the nights had been terrifying for her children, with holidaymakers forced to stay in their accommodation rather than risk running into the groups of aggressive teenagers in the dark.
On Friday night, the woman and her children were riding back to the Discovery Rottnest glamping site from the pub when a group of teens stood across the road and intimidated them.
“I called out, ‘Let us through’,” she said.
“They were threatening and abusive. My daughter began to cry and one of the teenage girls yelled horrible things at her. It was scary, and I’m furious that we were not warned that we were booking for the weekend during ‘juvie week’ when the authorities knew this was likely to happen.
“It’s an absolute disgrace.
“We spoke to police here who said this is becoming a major problem each year. They said it’s mainly private school kids who finished school last week.”
The woman called police to report the aggressive behaviour and was told that more than a dozen extra officers, including from the riot squad, had been called to the island. She said the police air wing was also called in to help find the teens in the dark.
The officer in charge of Rottnest Island Police declared an ‘Out of Control Gathering’, which allowed additional police resources to be deployed.
Perth father Isaac, who asked for his surname to be withheld, was also holidaying on the island at the weekend with his family when he was assaulted by a group of 16-year-olds.
He said large groups of teenagers blocked the street when he and his family were riding their bikes on Saturday evening.
Isaac was punched by teenagers on the island while riding his bike with his young daughter. Credit: Nine News Perth
They started abusing his wife and nine-year-old daughter, prompting him to get off his bike and ask them to tone it down.
“My daughter was crying so much,” he said.
“She was scared and they were yelling at her, ‘keep crying you stupid little girl’.
He said he told a group of about eight youths to cut it out, but they retaliated with abuse before walking behind him and punching him in the back of the head and the side of his face three times.
He fell to the ground, leaving him with cuts and bruises and swelling on his head.
“They were saying, ‘We’re only 16, what are you going to do?’” he said.
“It was quite scary.”
Isaac said the incident took place outside the Rottnest Island police station, and he reported the matter and gave a description of the boys. Police are investigating.
He said the weekend was overshadowed by hundreds of teenagers walking around in groups yelling abuse at each other.
At one point, a group of 20 teenagers were gathered in a tent next to his family’s.
“If Rottnest Island Authority are going to be accepting of this then we should be told about it,” he said.
Superintendent Dave Dench of Fremantle District Police said many of the teens did not have any adult supervision on the island.
“That is the common theme at the moment in regards to these large gatherings,” he said.
“We have juveniles with ready access to alcohol whose parents are not directly supervising them.”
The teenagers were thought to have congregated between Longreach Bay and the Basin, with much of the behaviour fuelled by alcohol.
Two police officers were struck by projectiles after local police called in help.
Dench said extra police were sent to Rottnest in anticipation of the end of school gathering, but that around 18 extra officers were deployed there on Friday night after an out-of-control gathering was reported.
He said it was a parent’s job to supervise their children.
“This situation was caused by a large number of intoxicated juveniles unsupervised, so I would ask parents to take that parental responsibility and ensure that their children are supervised at all times on Rottnest Island and that they don’t have ready access to alcohol,” he said.
The popularity of “juvie week” has grown over the past 15 years, and involves students in years 9 to 11 creating their own end-of-year celebrations.
While the traditional year 12 leavers event in Dunsborough involves planned events and the presence of emergency crews and Red Frog volunteers, “juvie leavers” is far less organised.
The tradition has become ingrained mostly in private schools across Perth.
As a condition of booking Rottnest Island Authority accommodation, the primary guest and/or keyholder must be 18 years of age or older and stay overnight in the accommodation through the term of the booking.
Rottnest has become less popular for actual school leavers, and official celebrations and organised events were canned due to dwindling numbers in 2019, but Dench said it had become a “developing issue” over the last three years.
“The increased police presence this year was as a result of some issues that occurred last year,” he said.
“And certainly what happened over this weekend is the worst it’s been so far.”
A Rottnest Island Authority spokesperson said minors were not permitted to be left unaccompanied which is “clearly communicated” to guests when they book accommodation.
“Any breaches of this can result in eviction from their accommodation and the island,” she said.
“To ensure safety and wellbeing of visitors, the Rottnest Island Authority implements an increased presence of CCTV, rangers, police, after hours officers and security personnel during the peak summer period.
“Instances of antisocial behaviour may result in infringement notices for non-compliance with the Rottnest Island Regulations 1988, accommodation cancellation, eviction from the island, and WA Police referral or action where necessary.”
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