Polly #7 Visits an Isolated Island

I hopped onto a plane to travel to an island in-between Australia and New Zealand.  It is called Norfolk Island, and Shane told me that it is an external territory of Australia.  They use Australian money and the TV is also from Australia, but I still needed to carry my passport to visit from Australia!

The Norfolk Island flag is an image of the Norfolk Pine. It is the same design as the Canadian flag.

The island is not big – it is only 8 kilometres (5 miles) long and 5 kilometres (3 miles) wide, so it is easy to go everywhere!  1800 people live here, and there are also many cows!  I wanted to get close to a cow but they were too big for me.  One time, they surrounded Shane’s car so we had to wait for them to walk away before we could leave.

Shane's car is surrounded by cows!

The island is very beautiful and the air is the cleanest I have breathed – there is no major land for 1000 kilomteres (621 miles) in any direction so there is no pollution here! This would be  a good place for frogs to live. There are many beautiful trees, the nicest is the Norfolk Pine, and it even appears on their flag.

Polly overlooks Norfolk Island from Mount Pitt

Shane told me about the history of the island. He said that the first people here were the Polynesians in 1150, but it was found by Captain Cook on 10 October 1774, and he landed the next day and claimed the island on behalf of the British Empire.

Behind me is where Captain Cook landed in 1774.

A few years later, settlers landed on the island to form a colony on 6 March 1788. The name of the town is called Kingston, and there are still many grand, old buildings being lived in and used by people today.

A plaque commemorating the landing of the first settlement.

The first settlement lasted until 1814 as it became too expensive to keep the settlement because it was so far away from Australia and New Zealand.  Norfolk Island was replaced by a convict settlement in 1825, but it was a very brutal prison. The convicts lived in very little cells.

A convict prison cell - it is very small for a person.

Only one of the people in charge of the prison was known for any kindness for good convict behaviour, and that was a man called Alexander Maconochie. However, he was replaced as people thought that convicts should be shown no kindness even if they want to become better people.

A building known as the Crank Mill - built in 1827. The building on the right is the Pier Store (1825) - it is now a museum.

In 1855 the convict settlement was stopped because it was too expensive and it was not working.  In 1856, the third settlement started, and that was the Pitcairners.  These were descendants of the Bounty mutineers from 1789 who lived on Pitcairn Island, but their island was overcrowded so they moved here.

The Pitcairners helped to make the island a nice place to live.  I visited an old church called St Baranabas’ Chapel. It was opened in 1880 and the church is based on Melanesian and English designs. Thewooden ceiling of this stone church looks like the keel of a ship!

In the beautiful St Barnabas' Chapel

Did you know that Norfolk Island celebrates Thanksgiving Day?  They celebrate on the last Wednesday in November, and this day was introduced by whalers from the United States.  The people on Norfolk Island have a holiday on that day, and the people meet at churches to auction food from their farms (the money goes to the church), before they go home to eat the Thanksgiving Feast with their families.

Shane taught me a lot about Norfolk Island and it was very interesting.  I liked Norfolk Island very much – it is beautiful island with many big trees and lots of cows and old buildings!  If anyone visits Australia or New Zealand, they should take another plane flight and visit Norfolk Island – I hope to be hopping back there again one day!

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