Sunday morning was free, so most of us visited the market in town ...
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The market was at the Bicentanarty Centre, which included a model of the Bounty (many residents of the island are descendents of the Bounty Mutineers) …
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Convict Settlement Tour
This afternoon tour was centred on Kingston, which was the primary settlement for the first and second phases of island history.
We first visited the Cemetery …
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… which is situated near the shore, with a beautiful outlook over the South Pacific ocean …
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… and was a mine of information about conditions in the early decades of the settlement of Norfolk Island.
As always in old cemeteries there were many graves of young children, though one convict, Thomas Saulsbury Wright, lived until his 105th birthday …
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(Wright was transported for forgery and was sent to Norfolk Island, in his late 90s, when he continued his old trade in Van Diemens Land.)
The oldest grave dated to just five years after the founding of the first settlement …
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Other graves recorded major events in the history of settlement, including a mutiny in 1846 called the “Cooking Pot Uprising” which occurred after the withdrawal of the convicts’ private cooking utensils. The grave of one of the guards (Stephen Smith) who was killed in this mutiny is shown below …
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Smith was killed by the leader of the uprising, William ‘Jackey-Jackey’ Westwood. Westwood was one of 12 convicts executed. The Commandant, John Price, did not allow them to be buried in the consecrated ground of the cemetery, and it is thought that they were buried in a mass grave that came to be called Murderer’s Mound, pictured below …
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After the cemetery we visited the location of the landing of the first settlement on the island …
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… led by Philip Gidley King, on 6th March 1788. With King were 7 free people and 15 convicts. The rapidity with which the island was settled, supports the view that New South Wales was chosen as the site for a penal colony, because of the proximity of Norfolk Island with potential as a source of naval stores (tall trees for masts and flax plants for sail cloth).
Most of the buildings at Kingston date from the second settlement (1824 to 1855).
The buildings included, houses for officers …
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… the Crank Mill, that was used to grind corn, as well as provide a means of punishment for the convicts that transgressed the law …
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… the “New Gaol” which was completed in 1847 …
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… the Commissary Store, which was converted to a “Church of England” by the Pitcairners …
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… the administrative building …
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... surrounded by a high protective wall and an impressive entrance …
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Some picturesque long boats littered the site …
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This beautiful area, with its chequered history, was the location of our afternoon tea …
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Fletcher’s Fate
This was our second themed dinner.
As the website notes, it is a:
A fascinating evening of interactive theatre, intrigue & mystery. This entertaining play, examining the possible last movements & final whereabouts of the famous mutineer, Fletcher Christian, is dramatically acted out by a 6 character cast over a sumptuous 3 course dinner.
We are in a tevern on the Isle of Mann on a wild and stormy night
When who should walk in but
... Captain Bligh ...
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... followed soon after by Captain Heyward, who was a junior officer on the Bounty at the time of the mutiny; it soon becomes clear that the two men hate each other ...
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… a mysterious American, with some information about the finding of Pitcairn Island …
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The other cast members were the publican, his wife and son.
The actors who played Heyward and the American, multi tasked as bus drivers for the guests who attended.
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