Inventing a Colonial Dark Tourism Site: The Derby Boab ‘Prison Tree

• In Event: Roundtable: Prison Tourism Roundtable 2

Abstract

A large hollow Boab known as the ‘prison tree’ just outside the small town of Derby in Western Australia is a major tourist attraction visited by thousands of people annually. It is listed as a national heritage site, and supposedly was a place where police on route from remote areas would stop with chained Aboriginal ‘offenders.’ This paper calls into question claims that the Boab tree on the outskirts of Derby was ever used as a temporary prison for Aboriginal prisoners. It examines Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal uses and significance of Boab trees to provide a contextual backdrop against which the documentation regarding the Derby ‘prison’ tree is considered in detail. The authors suggest that claims as to the tree’s colonial significance as a ‘prison tree’ have instead been perpetuated and embellished as a means through which tourists can continued to be attracted to visit what has been manufactured into a dark tourism site.

Author

• Elizabeth Grant, The University of Adelaide