Norfolk Island

an island in the S Pacific between New Caledonia and New Zealand: a territory of Australia. 1683; 13 sq. mi. (34 sq. km).

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Norfolk Island

Introduction Norfolk Island -
Background: Two British attempts at establishing the island as a penal colony (1788- 1814 and 1825-55) were ultimately abandoned. In 1856, the island was resettled by Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions. Geography Norfolk Island
Location: Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Australia
Geographic coordinates: 29 02 S, 167 57 E
Map references: Oceania
Area: total: 34.6 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 34.6 sq km
Area - comparative: about 0.2 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 32 km
Maritime claims: exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: subtropical, mild, little seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: volcanic formation with mostly rolling plains
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Bates 319 m
Natural resources: fish
Land use: arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: typhoons (especially May to July) Environment - current issues: NA
Geography - note: most of the 32-km coastline consists of almost inaccessible cliffs, but the land slopes down to the sea in one small southern area on Sydney Bay, where the capital of Kingston is situated People Norfolk Island -
Population: 1,866 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 20.2% 15-64 years: 63.9% 65 years and over: 15.9% (1996)
Population growth rate: -0.69% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: NA births/1,000 population
Death rate: NA deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate: NA migrant(s)/1,000 population
Sex ratio: at birth: NA male(s)/female under 15 years: NA male(s)/female 15-64 years: NA male(s)/female 65 years and over: NA male(s)/female total population: NA male(s)/female
Infant mortality rate: NA deaths/1,000 live births Life expectancy at birth: total population: NA years female: NA years male: NA years
Total fertility rate: NA children born/woman HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA% HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/ NA
AIDS:
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: noun: Norfolk Islander(s) adjective: Norfolk Islander(s)
Ethnic groups: descendants of the Bounty mutineers, Australian, New Zealander, Polynesians
Religions: Anglican 37.4%, Uniting Church in Australia 14.5%, Roman Catholic 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 3.1%, none 12.2%, unknown 17.4%, other 3.9% (1996)
Languages: English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian
Literacy: NA Government Norfolk Island -
Country name: conventional long form: Territory of Norfolk Island conventional short form: Norfolk Island
Dependency status: territory of Australia; Canberra administers Commonwealth responsibilities on Norfolk Island through the Department of Environment, Sport, and Territories
Government type: NA
Capital: Kingston Administrative divisions: none (territory of Australia)
Independence: none (territory of Australia)
National holiday: Pitcairners Arrival Day, 8 June (1856)
Constitution: Norfolk Island Act of 1979
Legal system: based on the laws of Australia, local ordinances and acts; English common law applies in matters not covered by either Australian or Norfolk Island law
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); the UK and Australia are represented by Administrator Anthony J. MESSNER (since 4 August 1997) election results: Geoffrey Robert GARDNER elected chief minister; percent of Legislative Assembly vote - NA% elections: the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia; chief minister elected by the Legislative Assembly for a term of not more than three years; election last held 29 November 2001 (next to be held by December 2004) head of government: Assembly President and Chief Minister Geoffrey Robert GARDNER (since 5 December 2001) cabinet: Executive Council is made up of four of the nine members of the Legislative Assembly; the council devises government policy and acts as an advisor to the administrator
Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Assembly (9 seats; members elected by electors who have nine equal votes each but only four votes can be given to any one candidate; members serve three- year terms) elections: last held 29 November 2001 (next to be held by December 2004) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - independents 9
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Court of Petty Sessions Political parties and leaders: none Political pressure groups and none
leaders: International organization none
participation: Diplomatic representation in the US: none (territory of Australia) Diplomatic representation from the none (territory of Australia)
US:
Flag description: three vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and green with a large green Norfolk Island pine tree centered in the slightly wider white band Economy Norfolk Island
Economy - overview: Tourism, the primary economic activity, has steadily increased over the years and has brought a level of prosperity unusual among inhabitants of the Pacific islands. The agricultural sector has become self-sufficient in the production of beef, poultry, and eggs.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $NA
GDP - real growth rate: NA%
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $NA GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA% Population below poverty line: NA% Household income or consumption by lowest 10%: NA%
percentage share: highest 10%: NA% Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%
Labor force: NA Labor force - by occupation: tourism NA%, subsistence agriculture NA%
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues: $4.6 million expenditures: $4.8 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY92/93)
Industries: tourism Industrial production growth rate: NA% Electricity - production: NA kWh Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA% other: NA% nuclear: NA% Electricity - consumption: NA kWh
Agriculture - products: Norfolk Island pine seed, Kentia palm seed, cereals, vegetables, fruit; cattle, poultry
Exports: $1.5 million (f.o.b., FY91/92)
Exports - commodities: postage stamps, seeds of the Norfolk Island pine and Kentia palm, small quantities of avocados
Exports - partners: Australia, other Pacific island countries, NZ, Asia, Europe
Imports: $17.9 million (c.i.f., FY91/92)
Imports - commodities: NA
Imports - partners: Australia, other Pacific island countries, NZ, Asia, Europe
Debt - external: $NA Economic aid - recipient: $NA
Currency: Australian dollar (AUD)
Currency code: AUD
Exchange rates: Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.9354 (January 2002), 1.9320 (2001), 1.7173 (2000), 1.5497 (1999), 1.5888 (1998), 1.3439 (1997)
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June Communications Norfolk Island - Telephones - main lines in use: 1,087 (1983) Telephones - mobile cellular: 0 (1983)
Telephone system: general assessment: adequate domestic: NA international: radiotelephone service with Sydney (Australia) Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios: 2,500 (1996) Television broadcast stations: 1 (local programming station plus two repeaters that bring in Australian programs by satellite) (1998)
Televisions: 1,200 (1996)
Internet country code: .nf Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (2000)
Internet users: NA Transportation Norfolk Island -
Railways: 0 km
Highways: total: 80 km paved: 53 km unpaved: 27 km (2001)
Waterways: none
Ports and harbors: none; loading jetties at Kingston and Cascade
Merchant marine: none (2002 est.)
Airports: 1 (2001) Airports - with paved runways: total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2001) Military Norfolk Island -
Military - note: defense is the responsibility of Australia Transnational Issues Norfolk Island - Disputes - international: none

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Island territory of Australia, southern Pacific Ocean.

Located midway between New Caledonia and New Zealand, the island has an area of 13 sq mi (35 sq km). Discovered by Capt. James Cook in 1774, it became a British penal colony (1788–1814, 1825–55). The population of Pitcairn Island was moved here in 1856, and many residents of Norfolk Island are descended from crew members of HMS Bounty. Of volcanic origin, it has generally rugged terrain with abundant Norfolk Island pine. The major industry is tourism.

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▪ island, Australia

Introduction

officially  Territory of Norfolk Island 

 external territory of Australia, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 1,041 miles (1,676 km) northeast of Sydney. The island is about 5 miles (8 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide. It is volcanic in origin, and its generally rugged terrain, with a mean elevation of 360 feet (110 m) above sea level, rises to Mount Bates (1,047 feet [319 m]) and Mount Pitt (1,043 feet [318 m]). Kingston, in the south, is the main settlement and administrative centre. Area 13 square miles (35 square km). Pop (2001) 2,037.

Physical and human geography

      The island, composed of flows of basalt lava lying horizontally and overlaid in most places by lateritic soil, rises precipitously (with some cliffs reaching heights of more than 300 feet [90 m] above sea level) from an extensive submarine ridge. Kingston and the landing place at Cascade on the northern side of the island are among the few points where the coast is not bound by cliffs. The soil, although fertile, is easily eroded if stripped of its vegetation cover. Temperatures average 60° F (15° C), and rainfall exceeds 50 inches (1,300 mm) annually. Two smaller islands, Philip (a volcanic pinnacle rising to 900 feet [275 m]) and Nepean (a limestone formation), lie off the southern shore. Although much of the land has been cleared for cropping and pasture, the once-dominant Norfolk Island pines (Norfolk Island pine) (species Araucaria excelsa, or A. heterophylla) remain a notable feature of the landscape. The island has a wide variety of flora; fauna includes geckos, bats, turtles, plentiful fishes, and numerous seabirds.

      The island's population includes the descendants of mutineers from the HMS Bounty who were transferred from Pitcairn Island in 1856, as well as descendants of later settlers, mostly from Australia and New Zealand. Nearly half of the present population may claim lineal descent from the Pitcairners; some one-third of the population was born on the Australian mainland, and about one-fifth in New Zealand. A strong blend of Polynesian and European heritage has a created a distinctive society, characterized by neighbourliness, self-help, and barter. Immigration is now strictly controlled.

      Since the mid-1960s the major economic activity of Norfolk Island has been tourism; many of the islanders are employed in the operation of hotels, duty-free stores, and other aspects of the industry. About 30,000 tourists (many of them from New Zealand) visit the island annually. Subsistence farming produces Kentia palm seed, cereals, fruits, and vegetables. Livestock grazing and fishing are also important locally. Foodstuffs are imported from Australia and New Zealand, mainly for the tourist trade; fuels and consumer goods are also imported. Seed of the Norfolk Island pine is exported, and there is a forestry program to increase the island's resource of pines. Budgetary revenue comes mostly from the sale of stamps and from customs duty and liquor sales (a government monopoly). The island has about 50 miles (80 km) of motor roads and an airport for passenger and air freight service with Australia and New Zealand.

      The administrator of Norfolk Island is appointed by the governor-general of Australia. Under the Norfolk Island Act of 1979, the territory has an elected nine-member legislative assembly. An executive council is composed of the executive members of the legislative assembly who have ministerial-type responsibilities. The act continues Australia's responsibility for the island as a territory under its authority and provides that consideration will be given to an extension of the powers of the legislative assembly. The judiciary consists of the island's Supreme Court and a Court of Petty Sessions. Education is free and compulsory for children between 6 and 15 years of age. Teachers for the island's school are provided by the New South Wales Department of Education. There is a small hospital on Norfolk Island.

History

      The English navigator Captain James Cook (Cook, James) 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. It became the second British (British Empire) possession in the Pacific when it was claimed by the Australian colony of New South Wales in 1788 and settled by a small party, including 15 convicts. After 26 years as a British penal colony, with a maximum of 1,100 convicts and free settlers, the island was abandoned in 1814 and the population removed mostly to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).

      Reestablished as a penitentiary (penal colony) (1825–55) for the reception of the most desperate criminals from the British convict settlements in Australia, Norfolk Island became notorious as a place of merciless discipline and punishment, holding an average of 1,500 to 2,000 convicts. The evacuation again of all convicts to Tasmania resulted as much from the difficulty of supervising administrators as from the difficulty of supervising the prisoners. In 1856 the population of Pitcairn Island, descendants of the mutineers from the HMS Bounty, was resettled on Norfolk; two small, disaffected parties returned to Pitcairn. Norfolk Island was originally made “a distinct and separate settlement” from the mainland colonies on June 24, 1856. Rapidly the islanders established their own systems of land tenure and society generally. In 1897 Britain conferred administrative status on the governor of New South Wales, though the island remained a separate British colony.

      In 1913, under the Norfolk Island Act (effective 1914), the colony became a territory of the Australian commonwealth, but the precise constitutional relationship with Australia was never the subject of complete agreement. An airfield constructed on the island during World War II gave Norfolk a link with the outside world. A royal commission in 1975 undertook clarification of the status of Norfolk Island, and the present administrative system was established in 1979.

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