- Where
- South Pacific, between New Zealand and New Caledonia
an external territory of Australia - Coordinates
- 29.04° S
167.95° E - Area
- 34.6 km²
Mount Bates, 319 m (Wikipedia) - People
- 2,188
(2021 census) - World Heritage
- Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area
Australian Convict Sites, 2010 - Getting there
- Qantas from Sydney (about 2 h 30)
or Brisbane (about 2 h) - Advisory
- Australia Level 1
Tall dark pines stood along the clifftops in rows, each shaped like a child’s drawing of a tree, and the cows had the roads and knew it. Down by a reef lagoon were long pale stone buildings with small windows, and a stone pier. In the shop I heard my own language with something warmer folded into it, very nearly understood, and took a long time choosing biscuits.
The short answer
Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia in the South Pacific, between New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres east of Evans Head on the Australian mainland and about 900 kilometres from Lord Howe Island, Wikipedia records. It covers 34.6 square kilometres, rises to 319 metres at Mount Bates, and had 2,188 people at the 2021 census, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ count. With two small uninhabited neighbours to the south, Phillip and Nepean islands, it makes up the Territory of Norfolk Island. Its capital is Kingston, the old convict town on the south coast; the largest settlement is Burnt Pine, near the airport. Its people speak English and Norf’k, a creole of eighteenth-century English and Tahitian brought from Pitcairn Island, which an act of the island’s own Legislative Assembly made an official language alongside English in 2004.
Why it's worth knowing
Three settlements in one small valley. East Polynesian seafarers reached Norfolk Island first, probably in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, and had gone long before Europeans came, by the Australian Museum’s archaeology as Wikipedia cites it; the Australian Government’s heritage listing calls Kingston the only place in Australia with evidence of early Polynesian settlement, including what may be a simple marae, a ceremonial site, near Emily Bay. James Cook landed on 10 October 1774 and named the island after the Duchess of Norfolk. On 6 March 1788, six weeks after the First Fleet reached Sydney, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King came ashore from HMS Supply with fifteen convicts and seven free men to found an outpost of the new colony; it was abandoned in 1814 and its buildings destroyed. In 1825 the British reoccupied the island as a place for convicts who reoffended in the colonies, and from 1856 it became home to the people of Pitcairn.
A stone town of World Heritage. What the second settlement left behind is the Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area: Government House of 1829, the Old Military Barracks of 1829–34, the Commissariat Store of 1835, the officers’ houses of Quality Row, the walls of a radial-plan gaol, and the landing pier and sea wall of 1839–47, which the heritage listing counts among the earliest large-scale engineering works remaining in Australia. It joined Australia’s National Heritage List in 2007 and, on 31 July 2010, became one of the eleven sites that make up UNESCO’s Australian Convict Sites. The heritage listing notes that it has been in continual use since 1856 as a place to live, work, worship and play: the regional council works out of the New Military Barracks, and the Administrator lives in Government House.
An island that speaks for itself. Norf’k grew from Pitkern, the speech of the Bounty mutineers’ descendants on Pitcairn. The island’s 2004 act recognises it as the language “spoken by descendants of the first free settlers of Norfolk Island who were descendants of the settlers of Pitcairn Island”, and requires an English translation beside it in official use, Wikipedia records. In 2007, ABC News reported, the United Nations added it to its list of endangered languages; children now learn it at the island’s school, and some walks and places carry Norf’k names.
The field notes
The reputation, and the record
In 1824 the British government told the governor of New South Wales to reoccupy Norfolk Island as a place for “the worst description of convicts”, Wikipedia records. The heritage listing describes what followed as one of the harshest and cruellest of Australia’s penal settlements: work from sunrise to sunset with hoes and spades, floggings for trivial offences, and, under Captain James Morisset, commandant from 1829 to 1834, a name in Britain as “hell on earth”. Alexander Maconochie tried a system of marks by which prisoners could earn their release, for four of the settlement’s thirty years, before his superiors ended it. Robert Willson, the Catholic bishop of Hobart, visited in 1846, described its conditions to a House of Lords committee in London and later petitioned for its closure, Wikipedia records; the last convicts were taken to Tasmania in May 1855. Who was sent there is another matter. The historian Tim Causer, working from a database of 6,458 of its convicts, argued in 2011 that more than half had never been convicted of anything in the colonies, that about 15 per cent had been spared a death sentence, and that most had been transported for crimes against property, not violence (his chapter in Islands of History, as Wikipedia and the University College London record of it, as indexed, summarise it).
From Pitcairn, 1856
By the 1850s Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians who came with them had settled in 1790, was too small for its descendants. On 3 May 1856, 193 of them left aboard the Morayshire; on 8 June, 194 came ashore at Norfolk Island, a baby having been born on the way, Wikipedia records, and the heritage listing says the whole community landed at the Kingston pier. They moved into the empty convict buildings and took up farming and whaling; whales were hunted from the island until 1956. Some families went back to Pitcairn in 1858 and 1863. The rest stayed, and 8 June is still the island’s great holiday, Bounty Day: families in period clothes re-enact the landing at the pier, walk to the cemetery to sing hymns, and end with a shared feast, by the accounts Wikipedia gathers. The ship itself never came near the island; it was burned at Pitcairn in 1790.
The pine on the flag
Cook noted tall, straight trees that looked fit for ships’ masts. They were the Norfolk Island pine, Araucaria heterophylla, a conifer that is not a true pine and grows wild only here; it reaches 50 to 65 metres, with tiers of branches that keep their symmetry even in steady sea winds, Wikipedia records. When the convict settlers tried the timber for masts, it was found not strong enough, and the plan was dropped. The tree has done better as an ornamental, planted along coasts and sold as a houseplant around the world, and it stands in the middle of the island’s green-and-white flag. In 1942 an avenue of about 500 of them was cut down to make way for the airfield’s runways, the writer Frank Clune recorded.
Phillip Island, coming back
A few kilometres south of Norfolk lies Phillip Island, 190 hectares of volcanic rock rising to 280 metres. Pigs, goats and rabbits let loose in the convict era stripped it so bare that it looked red-brown from Norfolk; the pigs and goats were gone by the early twentieth century and the rabbits by 1988, and since then plants and burrow-nesting seabirds have returned to soil that had washed away, Wikipedia records. It is part of Norfolk Island National Park, with the forested Mount Pitt section of Norfolk itself and tiny Nepean Island. Among the park’s charges, by Wikipedia’s account of it, is the endangered Norfolk parakeet, a green parrot found nowhere else.
Thanksgiving in the South Pacific
Norfolk Island keeps Thanksgiving, an American holiday, in late November. The island’s Anglican parish traces it to Isaac Robinson, an American trader who became the United States consul on the island and, having heard American whalers’ stories of the feast, decorated All Saints Church in Kingston for it; he died in 1912, and the islanders kept the custom (the parish’s own pages, as indexed). By the same account, islanders time their planting so that stalks of corn are ready to line the church pews on the day.
How the island is governed
Norfolk Island became a territory of Australia on 1 July 1914, under the Norfolk Island Act 1913. From 1979 the Norfolk Island Act 1979 gave it a measure of self-government, with an elected Legislative Assembly. In 2015 the Australian Parliament passed the Norfolk Island Legislation Amendment Act, which ended self-government; the Australian Government said the change was needed “to address issues of sustainability which have arisen from the model of self-government requiring Norfolk Island to deliver local, state and federal functions since 1979”. The Assembly was abolished in June 2015, and from 1 July 2016 most Commonwealth laws, including income tax, social security and Medicare, applied on the island, with an elected regional council for local affairs. The island’s government of the day opposed the change, The Guardian reported; in a referendum the Assembly held on 8 May 2015, 68 per cent of 912 voters backed being consulted first, RNZ reported, and in 2016 the group Norfolk Island People for Democracy petitioned the United Nations. In December 2021 the federal government dismissed the regional council and appointed an administrator. In November 2024 the minister for territories, Kristy McBain, announced a new local body, a five-member Norfolk Island Assembly; the appointed administrators’ term has since been extended to 31 December 2026 while that transition is settled (the minister’s releases, as indexed).
Kingston from Flagstaff Hill, February 2018.
Photograph: Inas · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kingston and its pines from the hill behind, August 2006.
Photograph: thinboyfatter · Kingston, Norfolk Island · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
The convict establishment at Kingston as painted in 1848, from a photographic copy.
Painting: Unknown artist (photographic copy by Beattie, Hobart) · Public domain
Emily Bay and its lone pine, February 2018.
Photograph: Inas · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Norfolk Island pines above a cove on the island's coast, August 2006.
Photograph: thinboyfatter · Norfolk-Island-Pines · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Wave back at every driver who waves at you. Keep a hand free for it.
- Give the cows the road and a nod as you pass. They seem to expect both.
- In the old cemetery by the sea, go slowly between the stones, say very little, and touch nothing.
- When you hear the island’s own way of talking, listen rather than try it out. It is theirs, and not for borrowing.
- Take the list down to the pier at sunset and recite it to the sea. (The sea was unmoved. Several items joined the list as I climbed the hill.)
The Kingston Pier. A landing pier and sea wall of local stone, built by convict labour between 1839 and 1847 at the head of Kingston’s old town, and counted by the Australian Government’s heritage listing among the earliest large-scale engineering works remaining in Australia. The whole Pitcairn community came ashore here on 8 June 1856, and every Bounty Day the landing is re-enacted on it. It still works: ships cannot come in close, so when one arrives its cargo is ferried ashore in whaleboats to Kingston or to the pier at Cascade, whichever side is out of the wind.
Tally, in the marginI passed a long, idle afternoon at its far end, admiring the stonework the way you admire something retired, until a little boat came bumping in with crates and I grasped, rather belatedly, that it was still at work. I apologised to the pier and moved my feet.
Getting there
How to get there. By air from eastern Australia. Qantas flies Boeing 737s to Norfolk Island Airport from Sydney, about two and a half hours, and from Brisbane, about two hours, three times a week from each city, under a federal government contract extended to March 2028 (Travel Weekly and the federal infrastructure department, as indexed). The flights leave from the international terminals, although since 1 July 2016 the trip has counted as domestic travel. Australian citizens may fly with photo identification instead of a passport; everyone else needs a passport and, depending on nationality, the same visa as for Australia (Norfolk Island Tourism, as indexed). Air Chathams’ weekly flight from Auckland was suspended in 2025 (CAPA, as indexed), and no direct New Zealand service was found for 2026.
When to go. Any time: the climate is mild all year. October to March is the warmer, drier half: the Bureau of Meteorology’s 1991–2020 normals, as Wikipedia gives them, show about seven or eight rainy days a month from October to January against twelve to fourteen from May to August, and average highs from about 18.5 °C in August to 25 °C in February. Bounty Day is 8 June.
What to arrange ahead. Book the flight and a bed together: with three flights a week from each city, a missed flight can mean waiting several days. The island’s hospital can handle minor surgery, but serious cases are flown to the mainland, by the Australian Government’s account as Wikipedia cites it, so carry travel insurance that covers medical evacuation. For swimming and snorkelling, Emily Bay in Kingston is a lagoon sheltered by a reef (Norfolk Island Tourism, as indexed); Parks Australia has barred taking any marine life from Emily, Slaughter and Cemetery bays, while swimming and snorkelling go on as before (Parks Australia, as indexed).
Safety. The State Department has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level (advisory dated 18 August 2026 in its feed, read 6 October 2026); the advisory does not name Norfolk Island, an Australian territory, separately. The island’s emergency number is 000; after the line was faulty from May 2025 (RNZ), the regional council described in July 2026 a 000 call that is answered by a recorded menu asking you to press a number for the hospital, police or fire service (council notice, as indexed). Much of the coast is cliff, so keep to the made paths at the lookouts.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Norfolk Island?
Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia in the South Pacific, between New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 km east of the Australian mainland and about 900 km from Lord Howe Island. It covers 34.6 square kilometres and had 2,188 people at the 2021 census.
Is Norfolk Island part of Australia?
Yes. Norfolk Island has been an Australian territory since 1 July 1914. It governed itself through an elected Legislative Assembly from 1979 until the Norfolk Island Legislation Amendment Act 2015 ended self-government; the island’s government opposed the change, and 68 per cent of 912 voters in a 2015 island referendum backed being consulted first. Since December 2021 appointed administrators have run its regional council, and in November 2024 the federal government announced a new elected Norfolk Island Assembly.
How do you get to Norfolk Island?
Qantas flies Boeing 737s to Norfolk Island from Sydney, about two and a half hours, and from Brisbane, about two hours, three times a week from each, under a federal contract extended to March 2028. Australian citizens may travel with photo identification; other visitors need a passport and, depending on nationality, an Australian visa.
Who are the Norfolk Islanders descended from?
Many Norfolk Islanders descend from the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians who settled Pitcairn Island with them in 1790. On 8 June 1856 the whole Pitcairn community, 194 people, landed at Kingston on Norfolk Island, and the island still marks that date every year as Bounty Day.
What language do people speak on Norfolk Island?
Norfolk Islanders speak English and Norf’k, a creole of eighteenth-century English and Tahitian that grew from the speech of the Pitcairn settlers. An act of the island’s Legislative Assembly made Norf’k an official language in 2004, and the United Nations listed it as endangered in 2007, ABC News reported.
What is the Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area?
The Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area is the convict-era settlement on Norfolk Island’s south coast, with Government House of 1829, military barracks, a commissariat store, gaol ruins and a landing pier of 1839–47. It is one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites inscribed by UNESCO on 31 July 2010.
Was Norfolk Island's convict settlement as brutal as its reputation?
Australia’s heritage listing calls the second convict settlement on Norfolk Island (1825–1855) one of the harshest and cruellest in Australia. The historian Tim Causer, studying 6,458 of its convicts, argued in 2011 that most were property offenders and more than half had no colonial conviction, so the image of an island of the worst criminals is partly myth.
Is Norfolk Island safe to visit?
The U.S. State Department rates Australia, which includes Norfolk Island, at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 18 August 2026). Norfolk Island’s hospital handles minor cases and flies serious ones to the mainland, so visitors are wise to carry insurance that covers medical evacuation.