Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is an Australian external territory in the South Pacific, lying between New Caledonia and New Zealand. Kingston is its capital, and residents speak English and Norfuk, a creole based on Pitkern that became a co-official language in 2004.

East Polynesian seafarers lived on the island in the 13th or 14th century but had left long before James Cook landed on 10 October 1774 and named it after the Duchess of Norfolk. Britain sent Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to settle it in March 1788, hoping to grow New Zealand flax for ship rigging. That first settlement was given up in 1814. A second British settlement followed from 1825 to 1855.

On 8 June 1856 descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions arrived from Pitcairn, and many islanders still share a small number of surnames. Whaling ships called regularly from 1793 to 1907, and the Melanesian Mission of the Church of England had its headquarters on the island from 1867 to 1920. Britain handed Norfolk to Australia in 1914. From 1979 to 2015 an elected Legislative Assembly, whose members stood as independents, made the island's laws, although the Australian Parliament could override them.

The Norfolk Island pine is native to the island, appears on its flag and is sold abroad as an ornamental tree. The Georgian buildings of the Kingston and Arthur's Vale Historic Area belong to the Australian Convict Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the Norfolk Island Museum runs five sites there. Phillip Island and Nepean Island are part of the territory as well, and the Bounty Museum tells the story of the families who came from Pitcairn.