INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL But does it have to happen, literally and metaphorically, on an anniversary holiday? Megan and I do not make a point of travelling for our anniversaries, but we enjoy doing so when we can manage it. This year our work schedules did not allow anything ambitious on the actual date, but did provide an opportunity a little earlier. Having lived in Samoa and Fiji and visited family in New Zealand several times, we pine for the Pacific on a regular basis, so when the idea of visiting Norfolk Island came up, it resonated. We made a booking within a week. Norfolk Island is a tiny (35 km2) volcanic outcrop on the largely sunken continent of Zealandia, an enormous mass of continental crust which broke away from Australia in the Cretaceous period, headed for South America and was promptly swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean for its audacity. Other less- watery bits of Zealandia include New Caledonia and New Zealand. Given their collective geological repudiation of the Australian continent and Norfolk Island’s closer present-day proximity to these other two other jurisdictions, you may wonder why it is today a territory of the Commonwealth of Oz. The answer is “historical ties”. The first inhabitants of Norfolk Island were Polynesian, but they had departed long before the early European explorers arrived in the Pacific. None other than James Cook ‘discovered’ and named it in 1774, during the second of his four-year missions to explore strange new worlds, seek out new civilisations, and boldly go where no man had gone before. He landed a boat at the base of a cliff to get a closer look at the abundant tall, straight pine trees native to the island and flax plants identical to those he’d already seen in Nieuw Zeeland. Noting their potential for making ship’s masts and sail-cloth, respectively, he then sailed away. Cook did not claim Norfolk Island for the British Crown, following a pattern of behavior that Margaret Cameron-Ash identifies in her book Lying for the Admiralty (2018). As well as being the greatest navigator of his day, Cook was astute in subterfuge. He often downplayed, ignored, or altered his journal or maps to omit, discoveries that could give the British strategic advantages. It was a time of intense competition between the superpowers of the day and, for King and Country, he hid his expedition’s discovery of Bass Strait and (probably) walked from Botany Bay to hills above Port Jackson to see how magnificent a site it would make for a new colony (and naval base) – and kept this knowledge from almost all of his crew. Sadly, by 1786 Captain Cook was dead, killed by Hawaiians angry at his attempt to have them all known as ‘Sandwich Islanders’. Britain had been trumped by its New England colonists, who now denied its main supply of ship timber, and a ruthless Russian ruler, Catherine II, had cut off vital supplies of flax and hemp as well. Cook’s advice regarding the natural resources of Norfolk was recalled at the Admiralty and a small settlement there was quietly added to plans for a new colony on the east coast of New Holland. When the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788, Captain Phillip knew to explore Port Jackson for a better site for the settlers. Gobsmacked when two French ships sailed into Botany Bay soon after, he did not invite Laperouse to the ceremony at Sydney Cove on the 26th that marked the founding of the Colony. Just six weeks later, a small party of First Fleet convicts and free men landed on Norfolk Island. They named their settlement Sydney, too. - 2 - As first Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Phillip administered far more territory than the present-day state. Before the First Fleet had set sail, the colony had been defined by British bureaucrats in April 1787 as extending from longitude 135º E in the west, from Cape York in the north to South Cape in the south (i.e. almost half of the Australian continent) as well as: “all the Islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the Latitudes aforesaid of 10º 37' South, and 43º 39' South”. The Admiralty was very generous in its interpretation of “adjacent”, claiming not just all of the islands visible from the coast, but also Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, as well as New Zealand (until July 1841). Both Sydneys struggled at first. Phillip’s desire to include experienced farmers, builders and craftsmen in the First Fleet had been ignored, and soils around Port Jackson were poor. The settlers on Norfolk Island found rich soil and initially supplied vegetables and grains to their namesake colony. But this led to more transportees being transferred to Norfolk and then shortages of food occurred on the island, too, especially after HMS Sirius grounded and broke up on the southern reef in 1790. An entire population of petrels was hunted and eaten to extinction by settlers in order to survive early famines. The native pines were found to be too fragile for ship’s masts, and attempts to process the local flax also failed. The colony never attained self-sufficiency and Norfolk Island was abandoned in 1814. A decade later, the future of the Sydney Cove settlement was assured and it ceased to be a penal colony. Norfolk Island was again given this role, for the “worst felons” transported from mainland N.S.W. and the newly-separated Van Diemen’s Land. They were matched by a series of brutal commandants, giving the island a reputation as the “Hell of the Pacific”. A new approach was taken for five years from 1840, under Alexander Maconochie. As a Royal Navy officer he had been imprisoned himself (by the French) and he implemented a system of reforms rather than punishments. The reoffending rate fell to 2% under his tenure, but he was still replaced by another brute. A violent uprising resulted in 1846; this and growing awareness of the conditions in Norfolk’s prisons led to their closure in 1855. Meanwhile, far to the east, the inhabitants of another small island were petitioning Queen Victoria for assistance. The Pitcairn Islanders, mostly descendants of HMS Bounty mutineers and Tahitians who had (involuntarily) accompanied them there in 1790, now totaled almost 200 and were exhausting their island’s resources. Her Majesty responded with a majestic gesture: she offered them Norfolk Island. They readily accepted, and endured five weeks at sea before disembarking at Kingston in June 1856, to learn that the offer had been revised and they would have to share the island with others. Some families returned to Pitcairn instead, but the population on Norfolk has maintained a strong culture and language (Norf’k) to this day. The island became a Territory of Australia in 1914, and gained its own Legis- lative Assembly in 1979. More recent decisions by the Australian government have again been unpopular, such as ending the island’s tax free status in 2010 and making the island part of New South Wales again by abolishing self-government in 2016. Given this vivid history, it will come as no surprise that tourism has been the most significant source of income on the island ever since WW2. An airstrip built for reconnaissance flights by the Royal New Zealand Air Force was lengthened to service commercial aircraft. Today, a prominent sign Welkam tu Norf’k Ailen greets all arrivals at the airport and there are plenty of tour operators happy to help visitors see and do everything the island has to offer. They also meet flights and drop visitors at their accommodation, which was great, as our plane had been delayed for hours and we were hungry. Our hosts, Steve and Kerri-Ann, recommended a dinner place a short walk away and we were not disappointed. The Hilli Restaurant served the best meal we would have on the island and we slept well on it that night. - 3 - In the morning, Kerri-Ann gave us a mobile and car keys, but we decided to stroll into town instead. Burnt Pine is an odd name; it was apparently derived from an old stand of pines burned down to make way for the original airstrip. The town has since expanded to the west. At first glance, it looked much like any small country town in Australia, apart from the pines scattered either side of the road. Once past the Chinese restaurant, a petrol station, and RSL Club, however, we began to notice more up-market shops, many of jewellery and clothing. Most of these were established during the island’s tax free era. Further along, we found the tourist bureau, chose some brochures and then braved the narrow path lined with great masses of spider web to have tea at the aptly named Golden Orb Book- shop and Café. It was a nice secluded spot, with many books on local history. Right next door was Duncans Jewellers, specializing in pearls and estate antiques. We browsed a while but Megan couldn’t decide whether she wanted the diamond necklace previously owned by Elizabeth Taylor or the Cartier art deco diamond and emerald ring. So we decided to drown our sorrows at our penury in a bottle of Bloody Bridge Gin instead. The bridge is real; the convict-era story goes that the guard of a work gang building it was killed and sealed into the brick structure. The deed was discovered when blood was seen seeping from the wet mortar.