The government has told the UN that the Pitcairn Islanders who settled Norfolk are not indigenous, and nor can the island's population be regarded as an ethnically, religiously, linguistically or culturally distinct minority.
Norfolk Island ancestry
Pitcairn Islanders are of British and Tahitian descent, as the island was settled in 1790 by British mutineers from the ship HMS Bounty and their Tahitian companions[2]. In 2021, 550 people on Norfolk Island identified Pitcairn ancestry, representing one-quarter (25.1%) of the population.
Of the Australian Aboriginal men who were transported to Norfolk Island, Van Diemen's Land, and the penal islands at Port Jackson, very, very few survived to return home.
Under the Australian Citizenship Act a person born on Norfolk Island is an Australian citizen provided that one parent is either an Australian citizen or a permanent resident of Australia.
The descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian consorts include the modern-day Pitcairn Islanders as well as a little less than half of the population of Norfolk Island. Their descendants also live in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
Even today the descendants of the Pitcairners share only a few family names: Adams, Christian, McCoy, Quintal and Young are the "Bounty names"; Buffett, Evans and Nobbs are the "Pitcairn names"; and Blucher, Bataille, Robinson, Snell, Rossiter and Bailey are among the "Norfolk names".
Norfolk Island is an External Territory under the Authority of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Protestant 49.6% Anglican 31.8% Uniting Church in Australia 10.6%
You can invest in a business or property or simply live on the island. It's an ocean of possibilities now for new investors, families, retirees and workers. There is no need to apply for any residency as it is regarded as moving simply from one part of Australia to another. Simple.
Australia's Indigenous population are loosely related to Melanesians and the United States Census categorize them under the Pacific Islander American umbrella.
As a penal colony Norfolk housed convicts who had reoffended on the mainland; now the island has an arrangement with NSW to jail its convicted criminals. While the island has a low crime rate, the cells have in recent years held two men charged with homicides, in one case for much longer than intended.
Convicts and free settlers made Norfolk their home until 1814, when the island was abandoned due to its perilous landing sites, isolation, and the fact that the main settlement in Australia was now well established.
Norfolk is home to the famed descendants of the Polynesian women and Bounty Mutineers who originally settled on Pitcairn Island. After outgrowing Pitcairn, the community made up of 8 family groupings relocated to Norfolk in 1856.
Shopping on Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island is a duty-free and GST-free shopping haven where you'll find over 50 stores selling everything from sporting goods and imported shoes to cosmetics, jewellery and artwork.
Norfolk Island's international dialling code is +6723. There are several internet cafes and wi-fi hotspots in town. Many accommodation providers also offer free wi-fi.
Do I need a passport? A valid passport is the preferred means of documentation; however, photographic identification such as a driver licence is acceptable for visitors from Australia.
Religion in Norfolk
According to the latest 2021 census, the most populous religious group within Norfolk is Others, accounting for 51.2% of the population. Norfolk has a Muslim population of 8,146 which is 0.9% of the population.
Norfolk Island is a very safe place to visit. There are no snakes on the island, and most of our spiders are harmless (even the big ones).
Norfolk Island Hospital
2.2 The Hospital is a 24 bed facility which employs 30 full-time administrative, medical and domestic staff.
Some of Norfolk Island's tax and super obligations differ to those that apply to mainland Australia, including: Goods and services tax (GST), luxury car tax, wine equalisation tax (WET) and fuel tax credits don't apply to transactions on Norfolk Island.
The English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the uninhabited island in 1774 and, impressed by the abundance of local flax (Phormium tenax) and the potential of the indigenous pines to provide ships' masts, named the island for the Duke of Norfolk.
Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke from Yorkshire and a Yellowbelly from Lincolnshire; the traditional nickname for people from Norfolk is 'Norfolk Dumpling' or 'Norfolk Pudden' ("pudding"): two of the county's two culinary dishes.
During the first year of the settlement, which was also called "Sydney" like its parent, more convicts and soldiers were sent to the island from New South Wales.
Despite the island's status as a self-governing territory of Australia, some Islanders claim that it was actually granted independence at the time Queen Victoria granted permission to Pitcairn Islanders to re-settle on the island.