Norfolk Island History

For such a small place there is just so much history that was created on Norfolk Island over the past spanning years. In 1400AD the very first island inhabitants on Norfolk Island, called the Polynesians, called this place home for many years but soon the numbers dwindled and after time the only remaining evidence that they existed was their stone tools and few rats that were left behind. Only to be found by the next explorer, Captain James Cook who named Norfolk Island. He thought the pine trees would be great for ship masts and the native flax plant would be handy for making sails and recommended the British settle it before the French did.

In 1788 New South Wales's Governor Phillip sent a group of convicts over to the island to start a penal settlement. It flourished and had grown to over 1000 in population by 1805, but its popularity was also its downfall and the cost of shipping in supplies was outweighing its worth as a prison and a farm. Everyone was ordered out, the place was razed to the ground, and by 1814 it was deserted again.

In 1824 the New South Wales Prison system was starting to get over-crowded and the decision was made to send 'twice-convicted' criminals back to a scaled-down Norfolk Island prison as an alternative to execution. In an age where trying to reform prisoners of their wicked ways through education and second-chances was seen as being too soft, Norfolk quickly became a hell on earth. The prisoners sent there were the roughest and most terrible of murderers, thieves and rapists in the British Empire and it would be reasonable to assume the men sent a third of the way across the Pacific Ocean to guard them were not being rewarded for being outstanding soldiers. Prisoners were tortured, flogged, under-nourished, over-worked and no one outside the island had much of an idea what was going on. Gradually word of the atrocities began to spread and the place was closed down again in 1855.

The very next year the British Government decided to allow the descendants from the mutiny on the Bounty to settle on the Island as the colony they'd started on nearby Pitcairn Island was too big for the available resources. The descendants of this group of settlers have been the longest-serving custodians of the island and still make up the bulk of Norfolk's population.

During the first and second occupations of Norfolk Island, the island was part of the colonies of New South Wales, and later Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). However, in 1856, the Pitcairners having arrived on Norfolk Island, Queen Victoria ordered that it be a separate colony of the British Crown. The 1856 Order-In-Council also decreed that Her Majesty's representative should be whosoever was at the time the Governor of New South Wales. Between 1856 and 1896 the Pitcairners continued their self-government, an element of which was equal suffrage: they were the first people ever to afford women the vote. In 1896, however, the right of self-government was removed from the islanders, due in part to their willingness to allow outsiders to join their community.

Between 1896 and 1979 the affairs of Norfolk Island were administered first by the Colony of New South Wales, and then after Australia's federation, by the Commonwealth of Australia. The island itself, however, was not incorporated into the Commonwealth, and has never been ceded or annexed to Australia. Constitutionally it remains today a distinct and separate colony of the British Crown, supervised by Australia, not owned by Australia. Norfolk Island is now an ideal holiday destination with a miriad attractions and great accommodation and duty free shopping.