Rottnest Island Riding School

Horse riding on the island

Rottnest Island once had a riding school and horse-hire centre offering escorted trail rides. Visitors could explore parts of the island on horseback, with staff accompanying the riding groups.

 

One former staff member was Sandy Hannan, who later became a founding partner of Hoofbeats magazine. Her biography published by the Western Australian Horse Council records that she moved to Rottnest with her own horse and worked escorting trail rides.

 

Before this, she had worked with Thoroughbred horses in Victoria and at a breeding and racing stable in Toodyay.

 

The riding-school company

Government Gazette notices identify a company named Rottnest Riding School Pty Ltd, carrying the registration reference S.1929/69. The company appears in notices published in 1980 and 1981.

 

Water supplies and infection

The riding school had a well-water supply. A geological and hydrological report on Rottnest identifies a “Riding School well”, abbreviated as RSW in its records.

 

The well also appears in research into Salmonella infections on the island. A paper published in 2007 by J. B. Iveson, S. D. Bradshaw and R. P. Hart records that Salmonella javiana was found in quokkas, horses, people and well water at the riding school.

 

Salmonella is a group of bacteria that can cause gastrointestinal illness. The name javiana identifies the particular type detected.

 

The researchers state that these findings resulted in the riding school’s closure and the removal of horses from the island.

 

Closure

By August 1985, the riding school had closed. The appendices to the Rottnest Island Management Plan refer to its former operation and explicitly describe it as closed.

 

 

Sources

• Sandy Hannan, Western Australian Horse Council.

• Western Australian Government Gazette, 30 May 1980 and 16 January 1981, references to Rottnest Riding School Pty Ltd.

• Report 6: Geology and Hydrology of Rottnest Island.

• Seasonal and Spatial Variation in Salmonella Infections Rates in Quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, in Areas of Human Contact - J. B. Iveson, S. D. Bradshaw and R. P. Hart, Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, Volume 90 (2007), pages 127–136.

• Rottnest Island Management Plan - Volume 2: Appendices, August 1985.