Island rejects jets

Press, 17 May 1980, Page 12

Island rejects jets

By LES BLOXHAM travel editor A streak of rebellion apparently still runs deep in the veins of some descendants of Fletcher Christian who, in 1789, led the mutiny on H.M.S.Bounty and cast Captain Bligh adrift in the middle of the Pacific. Now, almost 200 years later, Miss Karlene Christian is organising a campaign to stop the Australian Government from proceeding with plans to extend the runway on Norfolk. Island to allow big jets brimming with tourists to land there. The island’s existing runway is big enough only for turbo-prop aircraft of the Fokker Friendship size. Flying from Sydney and Auckland, they ferry about 24,000 visitors a year to Norfolk, which has been a territory of Australia since 1913. The island covers an area of barely 36 sq km and lias a resident population of about 1700 people, “We don’t want the

noise and pollution of big aeroplanes, nor is our island large enough to require them,” wrote Miss Christian in a letter circulated to newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. “We may live in isolation but we are not naive.” Miss Christian said the majority of islanders did not want an increase in the number of visitors. Bigger, faster aeroplanes would also reduce present flight frequencies and “spoil our island.”

Miss Christian, who says she is a descendant of Fletcher Christian, wants tourists who have visited Norfolk to protest against the proposed “violation of paradise” by writing to either of the island’s two newspapers, “The Norfolk Islander” or the “Norfolk Island News,” care of the Norfolk Island Post Office. “Some unknown bureaucrats in Canberra, assisted by the prodding of moneyhungry airlines none of whom have anything other than a commercial interest

in my homeland, have decided that the gem of the Pacific should become another Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti, Gold Coast, or Barrier Reef Island,” she said. “No thanks: those of us who are deeply committed to our little island have no desire whatsoever to duplicate the rest of the world with a head-long rush to destroy that which we have now. Rather, we would like visitors to come and enjoy our way of life. “We believe that in years to come we will be able to offer a hideaway that will still be unique. We want to remain a destination, not a ‘gas’ station along the aerial highways.” Miss Christian said that only the sheer weight of public opinion would “penetrate that thick grey matter” in Canberra. Norfolk became the home of descendants of the Bounty mutineers when 194 were transferred there from Pitcairn in 1856., Tourism is the island’s main industry.