Heritage Expeditions

Geographical Information:

Covering an area of 34.6 square kilometers the main island is situated at 29° 02’S and 167° 57’E.

Maximum Altitude:

319 M above sea level.

Physical features:

Norfolk Island is a volcanic formation with mostly rolling hills.

Historical features:

Norfolk was first settled by East Polynesian seafarers. They arrived in the 14th or 15th century and survived for several generations before disappearing. The final fate of these early settlers remains a mystery.

The first European known to have sighted these islands was Captain James Cook in 1774, who named them after the Duchess of Norfolk.

In an attempt to head off French interest in the island, a party of convicts were sent to Norfolk Island from Port Jackson, Australia, to take control of the Island and prepare it for commercial development. They arrived in March 1788 and the Islands were initially seen as a farm to supply Sydney with grain and vegetables. More convicts were sent from Sydney to relieve the pressure on meager food supplies in Sydney.

The Island was abandoned and the buildings destroyed in 1814. It remained abandoned for 11 years until it was decided it was an ideal place to send “the worst description of convicts”. What followed has been described as “Hell in Paradise”. An 1846 report exposed the scarcity and poor quality of food, inadequacy of housing, horrors of torture and incessant flogging, insubordination or convicts and corruption of overseers. This second penal settlement was abandoned in 1855 and the remaining convicts were removed to Tasmania.

The following year descendants of Tahitians and the HMAV Bounty resettled on Norfolk Island because Pitcairn Island has become too small for their growing population. The Islands population continued to grow as the island accepted settlers. After the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1907 Norfolk was placed under the authority of the new Commonwealth Government and administered as an external territory. In 1979 Norfolk was granted self government.

Flora:

At the time of European discovery in 1774, Norfolk Island was covered almost entirely by mixed-species subtropical rainforest, although the steep cliffs and highest slopes of Mt Pitt supported a distinct community of shrubs, herbs and climbers, dominated by the New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) All of the floral communities show strong affinities with the flora of New Caledonia and New Zealand.

Wildlife:

Most of the land birds present at the time of human settlement were endemic taxa. Of the 15 species present at the time, 6 are now extinct, and a number of endemics, including three species and two subspecies, are highly endangered. The Norfolk Island boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae royana), an endemic owl, was reduced to a single female in 1987 but has since mated successfully with a male New Zealand boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae), and some of their offspring have also survived and bred.  The Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service also runs a captive breeding program for the endangered Norfolk Island green parrot (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae cookii). There have been no confirmed sightings of the critically endangered white-chested white-eye (Zosterops albogularis) since 1980, but periodic reports indicate that a small population persists in indigenous forest. Although locally common, both the Norfolk Island gerygone (Gerygone modesta) and the slender-billed white-eye (Zosterops tenuirostris) are considered threatened, and the slender-billed white-eye population continues to decline outside protected areas.  Two seabirds with restricted breeding ranges, the providence petrel (Pterodroma solandri) and white-necked petrel (P. cervicalis) have been reported breeding on Philip Island. The only native mammal on the islands is Gould's wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii) which is locally very rare or possibly extinct.

Click here for a detailed Bird Checklist