What is Norfolk Island?
Norfolk Island is an Australian external territory in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,400 kilometres east of Australia's mainland. It is known for its tall pines and convict history.
Captain James Cook sighted the island in 1774. British settlers arrived in 1788, just weeks after the First Fleet reached Sydney, and the island later became one of the harshest penal settlements in the British Empire. The convict-era area at Kingston is part of a World Heritage listing.
In 1856 descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers moved to Norfolk Island from overcrowded Pitcairn Island. Many residents still trace their ancestry to them, and a local language called Norf'k, mixing English and Tahitian, is still spoken.
Island life
Around 2,000 people live on the island. Its emblem, the Norfolk Island pine, appears on the territory's flag, and tourism is a main part of the economy.
Norfolk Island had its own Legislative Assembly from 1979 until 2015, when the federal government ended its self-government. Today most Australian laws apply on the island.
Did You Know?
Bounty Day, celebrated on 8 June, marks the arrival of the Pitcairn Islanders in 1856.