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Old Military
Barracks, Quality Row, Kingston. |
NORFOLK ISLAND
Our
Political History - A Brief Overview to 2001
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Old Military
Barracks, Quality Row, Kingston. |
To understand where Norfolk Island is today,
one must first understand where Norfolk Island came from.
A brief overview follows
Our beginnings....
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Norfolk Island from the air, with Nepean Island at the bottom. The "X" in the landscape is our air strip. It has connected our small island to the outside world since 1942. |
A land mass thrust from the ocean floor by volcanic action
- the experts say it was 3.2 million years ago- a land mass which today spans only 13.3 square miles.Recorded history says there have been three settlements; the first two in 1788 and 1825 - both out of Sydney Cove, Australia and both disbanded - the first after 26 years; the last in 1855. Our famous Georgian buildings are a record of man's inhumanity to man, and are the heritage of those settlements left behind.
The present era - the Third Settlement - began in 1856. From Pitcairn Isle they came - the descendants of the famous Bounty Mutineers - all 193 of them, too many for Pitcairn to support. Their culture, their traditions, their language and their political aspirations all continue to influence our lives today.
