In March this year, 2006, we made a trip to Norfolk Island – a place we have always wanted to visit.
The courtesy bus dropped us off at our home for the next week – “Islander Lodge” and we made our way up the walkway to the units. Tagging along at the end of the group, I stopped to take a breather and turned around to look at the view.
Whack !!! ….. like a thump in the chest, it took my breath away and the tears welled up in my eyes.
Don't ask me why !......sure the view was beautiful, but it was more than that.
Our Ann” had arrived at Norfolk Island on board the “Sirius” on ‘Saterday’ morn 13th March 1790, along with her partner George Bannister but Lt. Ralph Clark reported ….”Stood in for Sydney Bay - - Saw the colours at the higher flag Staff but no flag at the lower flag Staf - - from ther no flag flying there found that the Boats could not land ……” ……So she would have come ashore around at Cascade Bay on either 13th or 14th March, the surf at the “Landing place” at Sydney Bay, not being suitable.
The “Sirius” then put out to sea from Cascade Bay when conditions there deteriorated to return to Sydney Bay on Friday morning 19th March 1790.
We, arrived at Norfolk Island on Saturday 18th March 2006, so at midday on the next day, 216 years later, I was down at the shore, imagining what it would have been like for them to see the “Sirius” go onto the reef ( Ralph Clark reporting again) ……..” about 12 oClock the[y] Endevoured to put her about but She would not stay - - She got in the trof of the Sea which forst her Stern formost on the Reef - - as the Bell rung 12 oClock She Struck”
One of two plaques on the foreshore commemorating the wreck of the “Sirius”
Below is the view of Kingston on Sydney Bay from the “Higher Flagstaff” on Flagstaff Hill. This area was called Sydney during the First Settlement 1788-1814 and Kingston from the Second Settlement 1825-1856 and onwards. These buildings date from the Second settlement – all of the buildings from the First being destroyed when they vacated the island in 1814 to prevent use by escaped convicts or the French. There is however a building which is obscured by the Mill (unpainted and roofless, at the bottom of the photo) which was built up again from the remains of a first settlement building.
In the snap below, the plaque above, is situated at the rear of one of the four buildings, which form a square – that is, the building closest to the water.
The island is Nepean where William Dring was sent for six weeks with 2 others for stealing potatoes from Faddy’s garden. They were bought off after one month – one very ill.
In the snap below, taken a bit further around, you can see the remains of the gaols of the second settlement – the walls still remain, but the actual cells in the centre were pulled down for house building material for the Pitcairners who arrived in 1856 to make the Third Settlement.
90% of the photos that I took were from the front of the unit, it mesmerized me ....the following set overlap each other.....snap 1 at the left and snap 4 being to the right .... the small island in # 2 is Nepean, the larger island being Phillip. These buildings were not there in the first settlement, the land between the sea and the base of the hill was where they had the “town lots” – one of which would have been Ann & William Dring’s.
Snap One
Snap Two
Snap Three
Snap Four
In #4, the first building (no roof) to the right of the road that runs up to the beach is the hospital of the second settlement.....to the right of that is a building with a dark grey to greenish roof & verandahs ...it is the Lions Club building now which houses a gallery of photos over the years mainly starting with the third settlement with the arrival of the Pitcairners in 1856.
It was the Royal Surgeons house, in the Second Settlement, and between it and a stone building/ shed at the rear of it are the foundations of the first settlement's Government House …… see below.
and below is a better view of the shed / kitchen / storehouse at the rear of the building.
This building also is thought to have been built up / restored in the Second settlement from ruins of a First settlement building.
Part of the flagging (stone slab pavement/ floor) of this building is a headstone from the cemetery from a first settlement inhabitant – a women & her daughter (can’t remember her name sorry, but I kicked Grayeme for standing on it !!)
The valley that runs up (out of view) behind this building from right to left of this photo was Arthurs Vale ( the “Publics farm”) and there was a road that ran up it called the Mt Pitt Rd or a bit later the Queensborough Rd. In the first few years Mt Pitt was important as they traipsed up there to get the Mt Pitt birds (Providence Petrel) which sustained them.....and later called Queensborough Rd because of its importance leading to the main farm they built out there.
Below is a view of Arthurs Vale from the Higher Flagstaff ( Higher Flagstaff and Lower Flagstaff ??? – they had the original flagstaff put so far up the hill and then were told that it didn’t conform to standards and had to put one higher up the hill – and this was prior to the “Sirius” arriving in 1790 !!)
The row of pines running up beside the road were planted in 1971 – one hundred in total – to commemorate Mrs Jemima Robinson, nee Quintal ( a Pitcairn / third settlement descendant) –who attained her hundredth birthday in September 1970 ( she died a few months later). A stream ran down this valley, which once flowed somewhere near where the road runs, but was diverted to run on the left side of the row of pines. The row of trees bends with the road and at the end of the bend, barely visible in the above photo, is the ruins of a watermill which was powered by the stream. The stone watermill remains are from the Second settlement but it replaced a wooden structure from the first settlement.
The photo below is from the watermill ruins looking down the valley to Flagstaff Hill.
I kept coming back to this spot !! ?? it felt good there – or maybe it was just to feed the feral chooks that congregated there – descendants of those from the first settlement, we are told.
A snap or two of the cemetery, just in case Ann did have another child who had been born and died on the island ……
and just as a tease !!!!! …… is this where he got to ????
A view of the island from the top of Mt Pitt. Nepean & Phillip Island are barely visible in the distance…………
A couple snaps of a sunrise from the front porch………
and a sunset from the west side of the island ………
I think that is enough ……. for a while !!!!! Oh, except for this one last photo……… my night as a convict.
