Norfolk island
Norfolk Island (in English: Norfolk Island, pronounced /ˈnɔːɹfək/; Pitcairnese-North Folk: Norfuk Ailen) It is an Australian territory in the Pacific Ocean, made up of three islands located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. It is one of Australia's island territories. It is located 1400 km east of the continent. Norfolk Island has an area of 36 km². The Norfolk Island araucaria, which is depicted on its flag, is the island's emblem. It has a temperate marine subtropical climate. The temperature that never falls below 10 °C and never exceeds 26 °C. The absolute maximum temperature is 28.4 °C while the absolute minimum is 6.2 °C and the average annual rainfall is 1292.5 mm. The rains occur mainly between the months of April and August. However, the rest of the months also receive a large amount of rainfall. [citation required]
History
Discovery and settlement
Norfolk Island was first settled by Polynesian sailors, probably from the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand. They arrived in the 14th century or XV, and survived for several generations until they disappeared. Their main population has been excavated at Emily Bay, and they left remains such as stone tools, rats, and banana trees. The final fate of these early settlers remains a mystery.
The first known European to sight the island was James Cook, in 1774, on his second voyage to the South Pacific on HMS Resolution. It was he who gave the island its name, inspired by the name of the wife of the first British peer, Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1685-1777). Cook set foot on land on Thursday, October 11, 1774, and was amazed at the tall trees and flax-like plants, of which he took samples back to England, and reported their potential use for the Royal Navy. At the time, Britain was heavily dependent on flax (for sails) and hemp (for ropes) from the shores of the Baltic Sea. They also relied on New England lumber (for mainmasts), which was not supplied to them during the American Revolutionary War. Any threat to the supply of these raw materials endangered Britain's maritime supremacy. Some historians, among which Geoffrey Blainey stands out in The Tyranny of Distance, maintain that Norfolk Island served as an alternative source of these resources, which was, according to them, a very important reason for the founding of the New South Wales Penal Colony by the First Fleet in 1788.
First settlement
Before the First Fleet sailed to found a penal colony in New South Wales, it was ordered by Governor Arthur Phillip to colonize Norfolk Island to prevent it from falling into the hands of France, whose naval leaders were also interested in the Pacific. When the fleet arrived in Sydney Harbor in January 1788, Phillip ordered Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to lead a party of fifteen convicts and seven freemen to seize control of the island and prepare it for commercial development. They arrived at Norfolk Island on March 6, 1788.
It soon became apparent that flax was difficult to prepare for manufacture and none of the island's inhabitants had the necessary skills. An attempt was made to have two Maoris teach the men the art, but the attempt failed when they discovered that weaving flax was a women's task, so the men did not understand much. Nor was the pine wood industry profitable, as it was not elastic enough.
But more convicts were sent, and the island began to serve Sydney as a farm, supplying them with grain and vegetables. However, crops failed due to salty winds, rats, and caterpillars. The lack of a safe natural harbor made communications and the transport of supplies and products difficult.
Manning Clark observed that "at first the convicts behaved well, but as more arrived from Sydney, they picked up their criminal practices." This included an attempted overthrow of Governor King in January 1789 by convicts, described by Margaret Hazzard as 'irremovable rogues who take their 'goodwill' for their own. as weakness". While some convicts responded well to the opportunity offered to become respectable, most remained "lazy, miserable wretches," according to Clark.
Imminent famine in Sydney caused large numbers of convicts and sailors to be brought to Norfolk Island in March 1790 on HMS Sirius. This attempt to relieve pressure on Sydney turned to disaster when the Sirius sank and, although there were no fatalities, stores were lost, and the ship's crew was isolated for ten months. This news was greeted in Sydney with "appalling consternation." From then on Norfolk Island was cut off from Sydney, which, following the arrival of the Second Fleet laden with sick and battered convicts, had other, more important problems to deal with.
Despite this, the settlement grew slowly as more convicts arrived from Sydney. Relations were established and children began to be born. Many convicts chose to remain on Norfolk Island as colonists at the end of their sentence, and the population reached 1,000 people in 1792.
Norfolk Island was ruled by a succession of temporary commanders for the next eleven years, beginning with King's replacement, Robert Ross, from 1789 to 1790. When Joseph Foveaux arrived as Lieutenant Governor in 1800, he found the settlement in disarray, since in the previous four years the maintenance task had not been carried out correctly, and he began to improve it, doing public works and attempts to improve education.
In 1794 the British government suggested the closure of Norfolk Island as a penal settlement, as it was too far away and too costly to maintain. In 1803 the Secretary of State, Lord Hobart, required the transfer of part of the Norfolk Island military establishment, colonists and convicts, to Tasmania, due to the great expense and difficulties in communication between Norfolk Island and Sydney. This was done more slowly than anticipated, due to resistance from settlers to being uprooted from the land they had managed to tame and demands for compensation for losses. The first group, made up of 159 people, four of whom were settlers and the rest convicts and their families and military personnel left the island in February 1805. Between November 1807 and September 1808, another five groups left, a total of 554. people. Only 200 people remained on the island, forming a small settlement until 1813, the year in which it was built. Only a small group was left to destroy all the buildings and goods that remained on the island, so that no other country, especially European, would be tempted to visit the place.
Norfolk Island remained abandoned between February 15, 1814 and June 6, 1825, returned to its original state, leaving behind only the memory of a quarter century of penal occupation.
Second penal settlement
In 1824 the British government instructed the Governor of New South Wales Thomas Brisbane to occupy Norfolk Island as a place to send 'the worst of the convicts'. Remoteness from him, previously seen as a handicap, was at the time seen as a resource for the punishment of "double convicts," those who had committed crimes upon their arrival in New South Wales. Brisbane assured his superiors that "the criminal who is sent there is forever barred from any hope of return." He saw Norfolk Island as "the non plus ultra of punishment for convicts". His successor, Governor Ralph Darling, was even harsher than Brisbane, wanting Norfolk Island to be "a place where the most extreme punishment was meted out." Similarly, Governor George Arthur thought that "when prisoners are sent to Norfolk Island, they should by no means be allowed to return." Transfer there should be considered the last limit, a punishment that could only limit death. Clearly, the reformation of convicts, the supposed goal of a penal transportation system as much as punishment, was not seen as an objective in the Norfolk Island penal settlement.
After a mutiny in 1834, Father William Ullathorne, vicar general of Sydney, visited Norfolk Island to comfort mutineers due to execution. He found it "the most heartbreaking scene he had ever witnessed." Having the duty of informing the prisoners who was pardoned and who had to die, he was struck by the literal fact that every man who heard his pardon wept bitterly, while every man who heard his sentence knelt with his dry eyes and thanked God".
Justice of the peace Robert Pringle Stuart's 1846 report exposed the scarcity and poor quality of food, the inadequate housing, the horrors of torture and incessant flogging, the insubordination of convicts, and the corruption of the foremen.
Bishop Robert Willson visited Norfolk Island from Tasmania three times. Upon his first visit in 1846 he reported to the House of Lords that, for the first time, he realized the enormity of the atrocities perpetrated under the British flag and attempted to remedy it. Willson returned in 1849 to find that numerous alterations had been carried out. Even so, rumors of new atrocities took him back in 1852, and this visit resulted in a negative report, listing atrocities and blaming the system, investing one man with power over so many people in such a faraway place.
Only a few convicts left written records of what went on there. His descriptions of living conditions, work, food, accommodation and, above all, the punishments inflicted for seemingly trivial offenses are horrifying, describing a settlement devoid of any kind of decency, under the iron rules of tyrannical autocratic commanders..
The actions of some of the commanders, such as Morisset, and, above all, those of Price seem to be excessively harsh. All but one were military officers, raised in a system where discipline was inhumanly severe. In addition, the commanders had a large number of military guards, civilian foremen, ex-con bailiffs, and convict confidants who provided them with the information they needed and carried out their orders.
Of these commanders, it seems that only Alexander Maconochie realized that brutalities could provoke challenges, as had been demonstrated by the riots of 1826, 1834, and 1846, and attempted to apply his theories of penal reform, using both punishment and incentives. His methods were criticized for being too soft and he was replaced, returning the settlement to brutality.
The second penal settlement began to come to an end after 1847, and the British Government sent the last remaining convicts on Norfolk Island to Tasmania in May 1855. It was abandoned because transfer to Tasmania had ceased in 1853 and was replaced by hard labor in Britain.
Third Settlement
On June 6, 1856, another group of exiles arrived on Norfolk Island. These were the descendants of the Tahitians and the HMAV Bounty mutineers, regrouped from the Pitcairn Islands, where there was no room for more population, for which reason the British Government had allowed the transfer of part of the population to Norfolk Island, which was since established as a separate colony of New South Wales but under the administration of the governor of said colony.
The Pitcairn arrivals occupied many of the remaining buildings of the penal settlements, gradually establishing their whaling and farming industries on the island. Although some families decided to return to Pitcairn in 1858 and 1863, the island's population continued to grow slowly as the island accepted settlers, often arriving in whaling fleets.
In 1867, the headquarters of the Melanesian Mission of the Church of England were established on the island, and in 1882 a church was erected in honor of Saint Barnabas, in memory of the Mission's head bishop John Coleridge Patteson, with windows designed by Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris. In 1920 the Mission was transferred from the island to the Solomon Islands, to be closer to its evangelizing objective.
After the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, Norfolk Island was placed under the authority of the government of the new country, being administered as an external territory.
During World War II, the island was used as a key airbase and refueling location between Australia and New Zealand. As the island fell under New Zealand's area of responsibility, it was garrisoned by the New Zealand Navy unit known as N Force. Even so, Norfolk Island was not attacked during the war. The American writer James A. Michener was stationed on the island during the Pacific War and recounts part of his experiences in one of his works: "Tales of the South Seas".
Politics
Norfolk Island is the only non-mainland Australian territory to have achieved self-government. The Norfolk Island Act, passed by the Australian Parliament in 1979, is the act under which the island is governed. The Australian Government maintains authority over the island through the Administrator, who is chosen by the Governor General of Australia. A Legislative Assembly is elected by popular vote every three years, although legislation passed by the Australian Parliament may extend its effect to the island territory.
The Assembly consists of nine seats, and electors have to propose nine votes under the same conditions, of which no more than four may be given to the same individual. This method of election is called a "weighted multiple voting system". Four of the members of the Assembly form the Executive Council, which functions as an advisor to the Administrator. Suffrage is universal at eighteen years of age.
The official capital of the island is Kingston, which functions primarily as a center of government rather than a settlement.
The national holiday is Bounty Day, celebrated on June 8, which celebrates the arrival of Pitcairn's people in 1856.
Local ordinances and acts are effective on the island, where most legislation is based on the Australian legal system. General Australian laws are effective on the island when their scope of action is not covered by special Australian laws or Norfolk Island laws.
As part of Australian territory, Norfolk Island does not have diplomatic representatives or participate in any international organizations, except sports organizations.
The flag consists of three vertical bands, the central one being a little larger than the other two and painted white, while the lateral ones are painted green, and a Norfolk pine () being centered in the central band Araucaria heterophylla) green.
Constitutional Status
There is some controversy about the exact status of Norfolk Island. Despite the island's status as a self-governing Australian territory, some of its inhabitants claim that it was declared fully independent when Queen Victoria gave Pitcairners permission to settle on Norfolk Island. The inhabitants of this island do not pay Australian taxes (which is why it is considered a tax haven), and the island is subject to different immigration laws than the rest of the country. This view has been repeatedly rejected by the Land Committee of the Australian Parliament (last time in 2004), and was also rejected by the Australian High Court. The Australian Parliament has full power to legislate on the island, including the ability to repeal any law passed by the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly.
Inhabitants of Australia and residents in any other part of the country do not have an automatic right of residence on the island: inhabitants of Australia have to present either their passport or Identity Card to travel to the island. Citizens of any other part of the world must carry a passport even if they arrive from another part of Australia.
Norfolk Island residency is normally granted in a similar way to most countries today: by being accredited by a resident of the island or a business operation on it. Temporary residence may also be granted to skilled workers needed for island services.
Permanent residents of Norfolk Island must apply for Australian citizenship after meeting the normal residency requirements. Children born on the island are Australian citizens if at least one parent is an Australian citizen or has permanent residence there at the time of birth (or the person was born before 20 August 1986).
Norfolk Island is not covered under Australian health insurance. All visitors to the island, including Australians, are advised to have travel insurance. Serious mental illnesses are not treated on the island, instead patients are flown back to mainland Australia, if necessary, by the Royal Australian Air Force.
In July 2007, the first murder on the island since 1856 was committed.
Geography
Norfolk Island is located in the South Pacific, east of Australia. It is the main island of the group of islands that comprise the territory, and is located at 29°02′S 167°57′E / -29.033, 167.950. It is 36 km² in area without any large body of inland water and has a 32 km coastline to the sea. The highest point on the island is Mt. Bates (319 m above sea level), located in the northwest quadrant of the island. Most of the land is suitable for cultivation and other agricultural uses. Philip Island, the second largest island in the territory, is located at 29°07′S 167°57′E / -29.117, 167.950, 6 km south of the main island. The island is a gently sloping volcanic formation.
The coastline of Norfolk Island consists of cliffs of varying heights. All products not produced on the island are brought in by ship, usually through Cascade Bay.
The island's main resource is fishing, as there are no large tracts of arable land or permanent farmland, although about 25% of the island is permanent grass. There are no irrigated lands. The area surrounding the island's highest point, Mount Bates, is conserved as Norfolk Island National Park.
The largest settlement on the island is Burnt Pine, located around Taylor's Road. There are other settlements all over the island, consisting mostly of houses surrounded by their territories. Government House, the official residence of the Administrator, is located on Quality Row, in what was the Kingston penal settlement Like other government buildings.
Climate
Norfolk Island has a marine subtropical climate, characterized as temperate. The temperature never drops below 10°C or exceeds 26°C. The absolute maximum temperature recorded is 28.4 °C, while the absolute minimum recorded is 6.2 °C. The average annual precipitation is 1,292.5 mm, the rains occur mainly between the months of April and August. However, the rest of the months also receive a considerable amount of precipitation.
 Average Norfolk Island climate parameters | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 28.3 | 28.4 | 28.4 | 26.6 | 25.1 | 23.4 | 22.0 | 21.8 | 23.8 | 24.4 | 26.5 | 28.2 | 28.4 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 24.5 | 24.9 | 24.3 | 22.7 | 20.9 | 19.3 | 18.4 | 18.3 | 19.0 | 20.2 | 21.7 | 23.4 | 21.5 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 22.0 | 22.2 | 21.6 | 20.5 | 18.7 | 17.1 | 16.2 | 16.1 | 17.0 | 17.9 | 19.3 | 21.0 | 19.1 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 19.1 | 19.6 | 19.2 | 17.8 | 16.1 | 14.7 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 13.7 | 14.8 | 16.1 | 17.8 | 16.3 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | 12.1 | 12.8 | 12.1 | 9.7 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 11.4 | 6.2 |
| Total precipitation (mm) | 85.6 | 95.2 | 101.8 | 123.8 | 132.0 | 146.3 | 141.8 | 127.2 | 94.3 | 84.9 | 72.8 | 85.7 | 1290.2 |
| Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 10.9 | 12.2 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 18.5 | 19.7 | 20.9 | 19.1 | 14.9 | 12.8 | 10.2 | 11.2 | 181.2 |
| Hours of sun | 232.5 | 200.6 | 201.5 | 195.0 | 182.9 | 156.0 | 182.9 | 204.6 | 213.0 | 229.4 | 237.0 | 238.7 | 2474.1 |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology | |||||||||||||
Environment
Norfolk Island is part of the interim biogeographic regionalization for Australia's "Pacific Subtropical Islands" (PSI) and forms the PSI02 subregion, with an area of 3,908 hectares (9,660 acres). The territory is home to the Norfolk Island subtropical forests terrestrial ecoregion.
Flora
Norfolk Island has 174 native plants; 51 of them are endemic. At least 18 of the endemic species are rare or threatened. The Norfolk Island palm (Rhopalostylis baueri) and smooth tree fern (Cyathea brownii), the world's tallest tree fern, are common in Norfolk Island National Park but rare elsewhere on the island. Prior to European settlement, most of Norfolk Island was covered by subtropical rainforest, the canopy of which was made of Araucaria heterophylla (Norfolk Island pine) in exposed areas, and the Rhopalostylis baueri palm and tree ferns Cyathea brownii and C australis in wetter protected areas. The understory was thick with lianas and ferns that covered the forest floor. Only a small tract, 5 km² (1.9 sq mi), of tropical rainforest remains, which was declared a Norfolk Island national park in 1986.
This forest has been infested with various introduced plants. The cliffs and steep slopes of Mount Pitt supported a community of shrubs, herbaceous plants, and vines. Some stretches of coastal and cliff vegetation have been preserved. The rest of the island has been cleared for pasture and housing. Grazing and introduced weeds currently threaten the native flora, displacing it in some areas. In fact, there are more weed species than native species on Norfolk Island.
Wildlife
As a relatively small and isolated oceanic island, Norfolk has few land birds, but a high degree of endemicity among them. Norfolk Island is home to a radiation of about 40 endemic species of snails. Many of the endemic bird species and subspecies have become extinct as a result of the massive clearing of the island's native subtropical rainforest vegetation for agriculture, hunting, and persecution as agricultural pests. Birds have also suffered from introduced mammals such as rats, cats, pigs, and goats, as well as introduced competitors such as common blackbirds and crimson rosellas. Although the island is politically part of Australia, many of Norfolk Island's native birds show affinities with those of neighboring New Zealand, such as the Norfolk kaka, Norfolk pigeon and Norfolk boobook.
Extinctions include those of the endemic Norfolk kaka and Norfolk pigeon, while of the endemic subspecies the starling, thresher, thrush, and boobook owl are all extinct, although the latter's genes persist in a hybrid population offspring of the last female. Other endemic birds include the white-breasted white-eye, which may be extinct, the Norfolk parakeet, the Norfolk gerygone, the slender-billed white-eye, and the endemic subspecies of the Pacific robin and golden whistler. Subfossil bones indicate that a species of Coenocorypha snipe was also found on the island and is now extinct, but the taxonomic relationships of this are unclear and have yet to be scientifically described.
The Nepean of the Norfolk Island group is also home to breeding seabirds. The Providence petrel was hunted to local extinction in the early 19th century century, but has shown signs of re-breeding on Phillip Island. Other seabirds that breed there include the white-necked petrel, Kermadec petrel, wedge-tailed shearwater, Australasian gannet, red-tailed tropicbird, and gray tern. The sooty tern (known locally as the whale bird) has traditionally been subject to seasonal egg collection by Norfolk Islanders.
Norfolk Island, with neighboring Nepean Island, has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because it is home to all populations of slender-billed white-breasted and white-eyed parakeets, Norfolk parakeets, and Slender-billed parakeets. Norfolk, as well as more than 1% of the world's populations of red-tailed shearwaters and red-tailed tropicbirds. Nearby Phillip Island is treated as a separate IBA.
Norfolk Island also has a botanical garden, which is home to a wide variety of plant species. However, the island has only one native mammal, Gould's bearded bat (Chalinolobus gouldii). It is very rare and may already be extinct on the island.
The Papilio amynthor is a species of butterfly found on Norfolk Island and the Loyalty Islands.
Cetaceans were historically abundant around the island since commercial whaling on the island was in operation until 1956. Today, large numbers of the larger whales have disappeared, but even today many species such as the humpback whale, minke whale, sei whale and dolphins can all be seen just offshore. and scientific surveys have been conducted regularly. Southern right whales were once regular migrants to Norfolk, but have been severely depleted by historic hunts and furthermore by recent Russian and Japanese illegal whaling, resulting in none or very few, if any, remaining. remains.
Economy
The island's main economic activity is tourism, which has grown steadily over time. Since Norfolk Island prohibits the importation of fresh fruit and vegetables, the vast majority is produced locally. The beef is produced locally but also imported. The currency used on Norfolk Island is the Australian dollar. The issuance of postage stamps, mainly for collecting, is also an important source of income for its economy. The workforce is 978 people, of which 80% work in the service sector, 14% in industry and only 6% in agriculture.
Demographics
The estimated population of Norfolk Island as of July 2003 was 1,853 people, 20.2% of whom were fourteen years of age or younger, 63.9% from 15 to 64 years of age, and 15.9% who were 65 or older. Annual growth was estimated at 0.01%. According to The World Factbook for 2012 the total population was 2,182. According to 2013 estimates, the capital Kingston had 917 of its residents.
Emigration is increasing as many islanders take advantage of the close relationship between Norfolk Island and Australia and New Zealand. The only school on the island provides education up to the age of twelve, so students who want to complete tertiary studies must leave the island. In addition, the island's small economy causes many skilled workers to emigrate.
Most of the islanders are Caucasian, descendants of the mutineers on the HMAV Bounty and also more recent arrivals from Australia and New Zealand. Descendants of the Bounty mutineers have some Polynesian features, although only a minority consider themselves Polynesian.
Most of the inhabitants are Protestant Christians. In 1996, 37.4% belonged to the Anglican Communion, 14.5% to the United Church, 11.5% to the Catholic Church, and 3.1% to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The islanders speak both English and a creole language known as Norfulkense, Norfuk or Pitkern, as it is called in that language, a mixture of 18th century English XVIII and Tahitian. Norfuk is losing popularity as the island receives more tourists and young people leave the island in search of studies or work. Even so, efforts are being made to keep it alive through dictionaries and by changing the traditional names of some tourist places to their Norfuk equivalents. In April 2005, it was declared the co-official language of the island.
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