Norfolk Island Historical Events

A series of archaeological investigations in recent years has revealed the substantial remains from a Polynesian settlement from possibly as early as the tenth to the fifteenth century. Beneath the dunes near Emily Bay in KAVHA lie the remains of a small village occupied by East Polynesian voyagers, the first inhabitants of Norfolk Island. How or why the settlement ended is unknown.

1774

The island was uninhabited when discovered by Captain Cook. He named it Norfolk Isle after the Duchess of Norfolk and claimed possession of it for the British Crown.

1788

Lieutenant Philip Gidley King and twenty-two others landed at Kingston on Norfolk Island to establish the first convict settlement. This was six weeks after the landing of the First Fleet on the Australian mainland at Port Jackson. They had been sent to Norfolk Island from Port Jackson in the hope that the fertile soils of Norfolk Island would enable the production of crops to feed the mainland settlement.

1804

Norfolk Island’s population, consisting of both free settlers and convicts, reached 1,100.

1814

The Island’s population was transferred to Van Diemen’s Land (now known as Tasmania). The first settlement was abandoned after its failure to satisfy its original reason for settlement, which was the acquisition of timber and flax, and its inability to be self-supporting without assistance from Port Jackson. The expense and danger of freighting goods from Norfolk Island was considered to be significant.

1825

Second settlement was established for the worst convicts from New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. Until 1844 the Island was under the control of the Colony of New South Wales.

1844

Norfolk Island was annexed to Van Diemen’s Land.

1847

The British Government decided to commence closure of Norfolk Island as a convict settlement.

1855

Norfolk Island was unoccupied except for a small caretaker presence.

1856

The entire population of Pitcairn Island (193 persons) was transferred to Norfolk Island due to the increasing population and concern about a lack of resources on Pitcairn Island. The Crown did not cede the Island to the Pitcairners. Rather, they were the recipients of land grants while other land was reserved to the Crown. Small family groups left Norfolk Island to resettle Pitcairn Island in 1858 and again in 1863.

By an Order-in-Council (a sovereign’s order on an administrative matter given by the advice of the Privy Council) dated 24 June 1856, made pursuant to the Australian Waste Lands Act 1855 (NI), Norfolk Island was separated from Van Diemen's Land and created ‘a distinct and separate settlement’. The Governor of New South Wales was appointed Governor of Norfolk Island and given ‘full power and authority to make laws for the order, peace and good government of the said island’.

1857

Governor Sir William Denison visited Norfolk Island from Sydney and the first laws and regulations for the Island were gazetted.

1857

First freehold grants of approximately fifty acres each were made to the head of each family.

1866

The Melanesian Mission was established on Norfolk Island. The Mission provided a training school for missionaries and a headquarters for the Church of England’s Bishop of Melanesia and by 1899 it had 210 Melanesian students enrolled and its own church and farms. The Mission was wound up after the First World War.

1897

An Order-in-Council dated 15 January 1897 revoked the Order in Council of 1856 and placed the administration of Norfolk Island under the Governor of the Colony of New South Wales whose powers were subject to instructions by Her Majesty. The Order also provided for the annexation of the Island to any Federal body to which New South Wales might later belong.

1900

An Order-in-Council dated 18 October 1900 was issued to vest administrative powers in the Governor of the State of New South Wales (ie as opposed to the former Colony of New South Wales). This Order took effect from 1 January 1901 which was the date on which the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp) commenced and established the Commonwealth of Australia.

1900

The Pacific Cable Station was established on Norfolk Island, linking Norfolk Island and the rest of Australia with Canada and New Zealand by telegraph cable.

1903

British authorities passed laws to replace the Island’s Council of Elders with an Executive Council consisting of two elected members and four members appointed by the Governor, who also appointed the President of the Council.

1913

Australia’s Federal Parliament passed the Norfolk Island Act 1913. The Act provided for the acceptance of Norfolk Island as a territory under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia pursuant to section 122 of the Australian Constitution.

However, the Act was not to come into operation until the King had issued the necessary Order-in-Council to place Norfolk Island under the Commonwealth’s authority. (See below.)

The Act also provided for an Administrator and Chief Magistrate appointed by the Governor-General and advised by a Norfolk Island Executive Council. The Council consisted of 12 members, with six being elected annually and six nominated by the Administrator and Chief Magistrate. The Act also provided goods made on Norfolk Island were exempt from customs duties on the mainland, making Norfolk Island part of the free trade area established by Federation.

1914

An Order-in-Council was signed by His Majesty on 30 March 1914 to revoke the Order-in-Council of 1900 and place Norfolk Island under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. It took effect from 1 July 1914, which was also the date of commencement of the Norfolk Island Act 1913.

1935

Federal Parliament passed the Norfolk Island Act 1935 to amend the 1913 Act. The position of Administrator was separated from that of Chief Magistrate. The Executive Council was replaced with an Advisory Council of eight members, who were elected annually.

1957

The Norfolk Island Acts of 1913 and 1935 were repealed and replaced by the Norfolk Island Act 1957.

1960

A Norfolk Island Council was established to advise the Administrator.

1965

The Norfolk Island Supreme Court in Newbury v The Queen [1965] 7 FLR 34 confirmed that Federal Parliament had power under section 122 of the Australian Constitution to make laws for the government of Norfolk Island.

1975

A Royal Commission (with Sir John Nimmo as Commissioner) was appointed by the Federal Government ‘to make inquiry into, and to report and make recommendations on, the future status of Norfolk Island and its constitutional relationship to Australia’.

A report by the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence—a parliamentary committee—found that Norfolk Island’s population was ethnically and culturally akin to that of the mainland and that the Island’s main economic and social links were with the rest of Australia.

1976

The High Court of Australia (in the case of Berwick Limited vs R R Gray, Deputy Commissioner for Taxation) confirmed that Norfolk Island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia and that the law-making power conferred upon the Federal Parliament in respect of Norfolk Island by s 122 of the Constitution is plenary, that is, unrestricted in any sense.

The Report of the Nimmo Royal Commission was tabled in the Parliament in November 1976. Principal recommendations included greater autonomy for the Island (a Legislative Assembly), representation in Federal Parliament and extension of mainland income tax and social security.

In a preliminary response to the Nimmo Report, the Federal Government reaffirmed its commitment to its responsibility for maintaining Norfolk Island as a viable community and that its constitutional relationship to Australia would remain that of a Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia.

1977

The Norfolk Island Council appealed to the United Nations Committee of 24 (Decolonisation Committee) against the recommendations of the Nimmo Royal Commission, which were perceived by some on the Island as recommending Norfolk Island’s political integration into the rest of the Australia without the consent of its residents. The Council’s submission claimed separate constitutional, ethnic and cultural identity. The United Nations Committee declined to consider the submission.

1978

The Federal Government’s substantive response to the Report of the Nimmo Royal Commission was released. The Federal Government decided that among other things, mainland taxation and social service benefits would not be extended to the Island, a Legislative Assembly would be created with wide powers, an economic feasibility study would be commissioned to assess the Island’s economic capacity and federal legislation would apply to the Island only if expressed to do so.

1979

The President of the Society of Descendants of the Pitcairn Settlers visited UN officials to enquire about including Norfolk Island in the Committee of 24’s list of dependent territories. He was told that the listing would have to be requested by a sovereign state.

The Norfolk Island Act 1979 was proclaimed, conferring a degree of internal self-government, but in no way altered the Island’s status as an integral part of the Commonwealth of Australia. In the words of the preamble to the Act, Norfolk Island was by the Norfolk Island Act 1913 declared to be accepted by the Commonwealth as a Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth. The words 'Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth' afford no special status. This wording is taken from section 122 of the Constitution.

In essence, the Commonwealth Parliament, by enacting the Norfolk Island Act 1979, created the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly and delegated a range of legislative and executive powers to it. In doing so, it was recognised that, though Norfolk Island is an integral part of Australia, it does not require it to be regulated by the same laws as regulate other parts of Australia. As such, the Commonwealth chose not to extend to Norfolk Island some of the laws that regulate the Australian mainland (eg federal laws on immigration, customs, social security, etc).

1986

The Advisory Committee to the Constitutional Commission held public hearings on Norfolk Island. The Commission was an independent body established to examine and review the need to revise the Australian Constitution. A submission made on behalf of the Norfolk Island Assembly, while acknowledging ‘the close and friendly relations between Norfolk and Australia’, argued that the Federal Constitution should be amended to remove doubts as to whether Norfolk Island could be regarded as a dependency of the Commonwealth.

The Advisory Committee’s 1987 Report rejected the proposal that the Island be given a new status. It also noted that no problems had been identified which resulted from Norfolk Island’s status as part of the Australian Commonwealth. It also commented that submissions received from the Island reflected considerable differences of opinion within the Norfolk community about the Island's relationship with the rest of Australia.

1991

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs tabled in the Parliament a report on the legal regimes of Australia's Island Territories, including Norfolk Island. Recommendations included making Australian citizenship a requirement to enrol and vote in Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly elections and to allow Australian citizens on Norfolk Island to be eligible to vote in Federal elections.

1992

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 was amended to allow Australian citizens resident on Norfolk Island to vote in Federal elections.

1995

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories tabled a report on freight and passenger transportation to Australia’s Island Territories entitled ‘Delivering the Goods’.

In response to the report, an Australian Bureau of Statistics' Household Expenditure Survey was conducted on Norfolk Island and the Commonwealth Grants Commission Act was extended to the Island.

1997

The Commonwealth Grants Commission released a report on Norfolk Island's economic capacity, financial and administrative arrangements and government services and on measures that could improve the latter.

1999

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories tabled its report ‘Island to Islands: Communications with Australia's External Territories’.

2001

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories tabled its report ‘In the pink or in the red?’ on health services on Norfolk Island.

2002

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories tabled its report on Norfolk Island Electoral Matters.

2003

The Commonwealth Grants Committee released its report titled ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Inquiry into Governance on Norfolk Island’.

2005

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories tabled is report ‘Inquiry into Norfolk Island Governance Part 2: Financial Sustainability of Government’.

2006

On the evidence of a number of reports and reviews, the Australian Government decided that the governance and financial arrangements on Norfolk Island were unsustainable and that significant changes were needed. Further information on the Australian Government’s decision can be found on the Norfolk Island Governance and Administration section of this website.