We flew in from Brisbane on a two hour flight and as the plane came in to land you could see right over the land mass. It seemed so small that I wondered how such a small place could accommodate an airport landing strip for commercial aircraft? My fears were quickly set aside as we came to earth with a bump and the plane pulled up right outside the airport building. There, behind the fence waiting for us, was Dinty Wilson with another Australian cousin Barbara who had flown in the previous day.
My cousin Dinty Wilson could be forgiven for thinking that I came to Norfolk Island with her sister Judy, to learn about the island’s fascinating history and to take in its beautiful surroundings. After all, its current settlement has close connections with, probably the best ever known Mutineer on the high seas, Fletcher Christian who had taken over the HMS Bounty in protest in the manner of the command of his superior Captain Bligh on 28th April 1789. Bligh was set adrift in a small boat with 19 of his crew and they survived and made an incredible 3,600 thousand mile sea journey to Timor. Bligh and his men reached Timor on June 14, 1789.
Continuing on to Batavia (Jakarta) on the island of Java, they found transportation to England, finally arriving there in March 1790.
The Bounty, meanwhile under the command of Christian, returned to Tahiti and left several mutineers there. Christian and eight other mutineers with some Tahitian men and women, then sailed to Pitcairn Island, where the small colony they founded went undiscovered until 1808 and where some descendants still reside.
The Bounty was scuppered on settling on the Pitcairn Island, to avoid detection. Then most of the men subsequently killed each other off and one man remained with a large group of women and children.
It is members of this remaining group of women and children, the offspring of the mutineers, that eventually were taken off Pitcairn and became the genesis of the permanent population of unpopulated Norfolk Island. But to this day the Pitcairn Island is still occupied by a couple of families descended from the mutineers.
Or maybe I came to Norfolk because I was drawn to a small sub tropical Island in the South Pacific Ocean, with palm trees, golden sandy beaches, a coral reef and comfortable climate? Visitors come to soak up the balmy weather and explore the jagged coastline with views over to the neighboring uninhabited islands which form part of its protected national park.
Or maybe they come to paddle in sea water which is as clean and clear as any I had ever seen. Or to track up through the trees on grassy well defined tracks up to its highest point?
But in truth, however fascinating the story of the islands’ past, which still influences it today, my interest was in how she had made her life on Norfolk Island? How, at some point, she made the decision to make it her permanent home some 40 years ago?
Although beautiful and inhabited, even the British had abandoned it as a penal colony in 1855, because it was remote and too expensive to reach.
Even today, there are no safe harbour facilities on Norfolk Island, with only loading jetties existing at Kingston and Cascade Bay. Ships, including visiting cruise ships have to drop anchor off shore. All goods not domestically produced are brought in by ship and loaded onto barges or lighters and ferried to jetties, usually to Cascade Bay, depending on the weather. In stormy weather it is not always possible to bring people or goods ashore.
Could a sub tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, of circa 2,000 inhabitants, many the direct descendants of the Pitcairn mutineers, become that place you can never leave?
Whilst we were there, a cruise ship dropped anchor off shore and we went down to the jetty and watched as small ferries carried hundreds of passengers ashore. From this jetty they are then taken by small coaches to town or dropped off at whichever tour they have signed up for. We learnt that the process of getting all the people off takes 4 hours and then once they have sampled the delights of town, they are all returned to ships in the same way.
The town centre was instantly busier. Small jewelry sellers had set up shop along the roadside and all the bars and cafes in the centre were full. The chocolate shop was selling out fast and the tours were fully booked. Imagine that you are expecting a rush of tourists and the weather means they cannot land? I worried about all the bread and sandwiches that might go to waste?
As an Australian, Dinty has raised her son on Norfolk Island, far away from family and her parents. Some 40 years later, he is now still a Norfolker and is in turn also raising his family on the island despite being University educated in Australia.
The coastline of Norfolk Island consists, to varying degrees, of cliff faces. A downward slope exists towards Slaughter Bay and Emily Bay, the site of the original colonial settlement of Kingston. Emily Bay, protected from the Pacific Ocean by a small coral reef, is the only safe area for swimming, although surfing waves can be found at Anson and Ball Bays.
Dinty described how Reef sharks come close to shore near the jetty to feast on fishing scraps and are separated only from swimmers by the narrowest of coral reefs.
East Polynesians were the first to settle in Norfolk Island, but they had already departed when Great Britain settled it as part of its 1788 colonization of Australia.
Captain Cook may have been the first European on Norfolk Island in 1774, named for the Duchess of Norfolk by Captain James Cook.
The island served initially as a convict penal settlement from 6 March 1788 until 5 May 1855, except for an 11-year hiatus between 15 February 1814 and 6 June 1825,[12][13] when it lay abandoned.
The ruins of the penal settlement can still be seen today and these have been well preserved and they have obtained UNESCO world heritage listing.
As we look around the former penal colony buildings, nearby a large number of people are playing serious looking croquet on a massive grassy area overlooked by marquees. Apparently these were players from Australia and New Zealand participating in the 10th Anniversary Convict’s Cup Social Croquet event!
On 8 June 1856, permanent civilian residence on the island began as the descendants of Tahitians and the HMS Bounty mutineers, including those of Fletcher Christian, were resettled from the Pitcairn Islands, which had become too small for their growing number and were relocated from Pitcairn Island as authorized by Queen Victoria.
The Pitcairners occupied many of the buildings remaining from the penal settlements, and gradually established traditional farming and whaling industries on the island. Although some families decided to return to Pitcairn in 1858 and 1863, the island's population continued to grow. They accepted additional settlers, who often arrived on whaling vessels.
In 1914, the UK handed Norfolk Island over to Australia to administer as an external territory.[14]
On 17 June 2015, the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly was abolished, with the territory becoming run by an Administrator and an advisory council. Elections for a new Regional Council were held on 28 May 2016, with the new council taking office on 1 July 2016.[41]
From that date, most Australian Commonwealth laws were extended to Norfolk Island. This means that taxation, social security, immigration, customs and health arrangements apply on the same basis as in mainland Australia.[40]
There is some opposition to the reforms, led by Norfolk Island People for Democracy Inc., an association appealing to the United Nations to include the island on its list of "non-self-governing territories".[45][
In October 2019, the Norfolk Island People For Democracy advocacy group conducted a survey of 457 island residents (about one quarter of the entire population) and found that 37% preferred free association with New Zealand, 35% preferred free association with Australia, 25% preferred full independence, and 3% preferred full integration with Australia.[48][49]
These issues are complex and a bit like the Brexit debate in the UK, strongly held opinions on both sides shape the debate, rather than a purely objective consideration of the pros and cons. In the UK once the majority wish to leave the EU was granted, a few years later the majority consider it was a mistake economically.
You’ll often hear that much of Norfolk Island was built with convict blood, sweat and tears, and it’s no exaggeration. Legend has it that during the construction of Bloody Bridge, a tyrannical overseer pushed his work gang to breaking point and ended up with a pickaxe imbedded in his skull.
Fearing a punishment even worse than their overseer’s grizzly fate, the convicts swiftly walled their tormentor into the bridge’s stonework. Feigning ignorance when questioned about his sudden disappearance, all went well for the work gang, until the replacement overseer noticed blood oozing from the still-wet mortar!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Island
Norfolk Island (/ˈnɔːrfək/, locally /ˈnɔːrfoʊk/;[9] Norfuk: Norf'k Ailen[10]) is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres (877 mi) directly east of Australia's Evans Head
Together with the neighbouring Phillip Island and Nepean Island, the three islands collectively form the Territory of Norfolk Island.[11] At the 2021 census, it had 2,188 inhabitants living on a total area of about 35 km2(14 sq mi).[7] Its capital is Kingston.
We were taken off to our accommodation and before we could adjust to our surroundings, we were taken to a community hall to watch Dinty directing rehearsals with a small troop of actors in a play she had written. The largest props on the stage were two Norfolk Pines, engaged in conversation about what they had witnessed on the Island over the many years of occupation.
Dinty had worked for many years in the tourist industry and once rehearsals had finished, we had a whistle stop tour of the island and a running commentary on its fascinating history.
