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.
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.
The teenagers were thought to have congregated between Long Reach and the Basin, with much of the behaviour fuelled by alcohol.
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Two police officers were struck by projectiles after local police called in help.
Samphire Rottnest management was forced to bring in extra security to deal with groups of teenagers who were scaling fences to get into the hotel’s pool area.
Hotel supervisor Sophie Walter said they had about 200 teenagers “causing havoc” by trying to break into the resort and stealing guests’ bikes.
“We had it under control with extra security, but the general disrespect from them was concerning,” she said.
Walter said the hotel was ambushed by groups of up to 10 teens at a time, but said the behaviour was repeated every year.
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.
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