NORFOLK STORY.

Duffy's Gen, Volume 1, Issue VIII, 1 August 1945, Page 9

NORFOLK STORY.

NORFOLK ISLAML is c? volcanic formation, with-an average elevation in the vicinity of IjOO ft. Kingston, where the Administrative settler ent io situated, is .on ” iw-'t-one bed. / ,The climate of the Island is eaunb ie , the temperature ranging between 56p and 82?, with an average rainfall of*-. 55 . inches. ' ,■// The ; climate ■- is a particularly 'healthy one, malaria -and other tropical diseases being absent. The. total area is 8,528 /acres-enclosed by a 20-r ile coastline. Normally the population is round' the 1 ,000 mark. ‘ The. island flora is most. closely associated with that of New Zealand, while, the avifauna indicates/ the /same' . connection rather than .one with Australia because those b -birds, belonging to the Australian genera are- apparently . immigrants* ■ ■ ~ "V- *, Perhaps <the greatest charm of Norfolk lies + he surprising variety of its scenery. ' The tropical and sub- ; tropical _growths -of ■ _ the leys merge - into splendid park :lands dotted with clumps of . the übiquitous pine tree; .and'., elsewhere leafy lanes, meandering past 'little' cottages • and gardens?,; -.are reminiscent of similar - corners of the English u Hone Counties* ” Mth brilliant sunshine most .7. of the year, and the ever-presept sea ; with . its lines of surf against the base.- of towering cl iffs or 7 on -the reef enclosing the’ lagoon, , the island presents a succession of i spectacles * that will long he remembered by those fortunate enough to view them* q , Since the - advent of -the Pitcairners in 1856, others, mostly of British stock, have ,drifted- along; or .have come . with some definite purpose and thrown in their lots with ' the community« The Pitcairners during the long years when on ; Pitcairn .. they were ?if or get ful of ■ the. world, and by the world- forgot, developed, a lingo all their own, ” a quaint commixture of English - . largely ’westcount ryjfand Tahitian* The Norfolk •descendants in their own. homes still employ this speech, though they all' speak good English in an . easy, deliberate tone, with no per- .' ceptible accent, but with a vowel sound' that is pleasing. n Wthing you gwen do morla?’’ means n what are you going to do to-morrow? ana h we .goJnarway daana .do daffy; Tse hilly;* ” , means ”We are going swimming; Don f t.. do that .. ihn lazy.” - *- • ;. .' "• . ,7 \ It is difficult to-day to. realise that even a' ‘hundred years j-igo. condiU one on - his.••••lsland . paradise'- merited- the : descriptions given by sreus Clark in his ~ book ”For the . form, of His Natural Life 5 ’ to the penal Settlement. A ’ V.

second, penal settler nt nad been Fade in 4 826 when it was used as a prison fox oor^ guilty of additional- crimes while serving sentences: in New South Wales*' Mthin a . few years,' ! fwli in X'v.ll rias rym tinw fn whet• bad. ■ • been for uncounted &gus a sol in' paradise r . <yn or the. lash and in 'the imminent shadow of the gall cwV they themselves raised,...gaunt,,. fierce human beasts quarried the . stone and built the walls that 'shut them’ out from light and air and hope..l ? Like animals they lived, like animals they died; and yet,th- old cemetery is not the only iron ument a - /Of the gaols only the surrounding walls now remain; but there is Bloody Bridge, scene of one of their , many insurrections; quality Row, .the. old quarters of the ■garrison officers; and Government douse -and the .Adminis- ■ trative buildings, still used as . much to-day*- ' ■ The settlement at King’s Town, or Kingston as it is. nd 1 .? called, is certainly‘"one of unique historical ' interest* The cemetery tells the ' story of deathsthat so frequent!y visted the penal settlement* ’Epitaphs (hr humble headstones read*« Executed* *Nuruered* *.*Drowped While Fishing For His "Commandant* .*• n while just outside the boundary fence .is a low mound, : unmarked, where in a pit were buri el’ ' those executed after s"e of the'mutinies o ' But ail this has passed* Exposures o..cd agitations by prison reformer's led in the ' first place to substantial amelibrations and subsequently. to suggestions"* that the island should', be abandoned again* This vas achieved -in yay 1855, ' ‘when the last shipload of .convicts -y, guards' and' settlers, left for Tasmania-. ’ , ' ' /. ■” . t ■ The grant Pitcairners- who remained .on Norfolk gradually settled all over the isj and, ' At first they were ■ terrified, of the ’’wi.de expanse s? of ; land c after ■ the' narrow confines of. tiny Pitcairn., and would not stir far -from Kingston. The' influence'' of dohn Adams.-, the mutineer who -was converted on Fitca:irn as the result of a vision in a-. dream, remained strong* . ' Habits of piety, church-going, . Bible-reading and other religious" practices- characterised life in the com.nunity« ' bhit’ii’- -1 896 the Islanders completely governed tter selves, eve person over 21 . having a . ' vote* After that. year they . were placed under the government of' New -South Hales, and’an outside Adm inis tor ■ -was sent to them .' To-day-this position holds, and the 'island is ultimately controlled by the Australian Commonweal Lh .C.cawrmr'iU To. earlier days contact with 1 the outside. world, smart from hcaiei' was confined to a few / carious visitors ?. who mostly ceiled away again, leaving.

-Liuuie imprint on the community* The present generation no tenge ;,h satisfied with "bare ’ necessities of liidt They regard luxuries, as necessities, x and have broken with the j old rigid i; *"-». <-• ?rg-, frocks, pictures and radios- reveal .the transitron is. or; the 'old' to /the new* ; "