MEDIA RELEASE
INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE COLLECTION
We’re going for a nautical theme for this week’s interesting item, featuring a model of the colonial sloop Norfolk, built by Col Gibson in 2006. It is made from Norfolk Island Pine (in keeping with the real Norfolk) and is built to 50:1 scale. You can view it as part of the First British Settlement exhibition at the Commissariat Store Museum. The real Norfolk was a sloop – a sailing boat with a single mast, a fore-and-aft rig, and single head- sail. Built in 1798, it came in at 16 tonnes, was made from Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) and was the first ship built on Norfolk Island. Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins (Royal Marines) wrote in his book An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, published in 1802: ‘The necessity of a vessel to keep up a more frequent intercourse with Norfolk Island, having been much felt by the want of various stores for the use of the inhabitants, occasioned Captain Townson, the Commanding Officer, to construct a small decked boat, sloop rigged, in which he sent his letters to this port, where she arrived on the 15th; but through the want of a harbour at that island, a want that must ever be felt, they were obliged to launch her from the shore, and proceed immediately to sea, whether she was sufficiently tight or not. The consequence was, that she proved very leaky; but with two pumps, which they fortunately had fitted on board her, they were able to keep the water under [control].’
The Norfolk was used by Mr George Bass and Lieutenant Matthew Flinders on their expedition, between October 1798 and January 1799, to discover whether Van Diemen’s Land (now known as Tasmania) was an island or not. On their journey they discovered Bass Strait and circumnavigated the island, confirming that Van Diemen’s Land was indeed an island! ‘On the 7th … Norfolk long-boat, sailed for Van Diemen’s land … In the Norfolk were Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass, who were instructed to examine the existence of the strait supposed to divide Van Diemen’s land from the continent.’ Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, 1802.
T: (+6723) 22444 | W: www.norfolkisland.gov.nf
Port Dalrymple on the north coast of Van Diemen's Land as surveyed in the Norfolk sloop by M. Flinders, Nov. and Dec. 1798. State Library of New South Wales, File No. FL3690902. In 1799, Flinders took the Norfolk north to chart Morton’s Bay (now Moreton Bay) and Hervey’s Bay (now Hervey Bay). In October 1800, in Broken Bay at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River, the Norfolk was seized by 15 convicts who intended to sail her to Maluku in Indonesia. Unfortunately, they ran her aground at what was later called Pirate Point, on the northern side of the mouth of the Hunter River a month later. (Today it is still known as Pirate Point in the suburb of Stockton, Newcastle.) For such a short life and modest structure, the Norfolk played an integral part in Australia’s history, and is a fascinating story which arguably equals that of HMS Sirius and other maritime legends. The Commissariat Store is open Monday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm. Helen Brackin TEAM LEADER HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 8 February 2019
T: (+6723) 22444 | W: www.norfolkisland.gov.nf