MISSION & HISTORY.
Our story really is one of survival against all odds; a history of facing whatever challenge confronts our community and rising to overcome those shadows: a tenacity blessed by the birth of each new generation of Norfolk Islander.
Norfolk Islanders are the first people to live continuously as the first native inhabitants; a "whole people" on Norfolk Island, South Pacific. Norfolk Island is our homeland. We love and hold sacred our island. We identify ourselves by our island and as a people we have been shaped by our island.
We are descendants of the 8 extended families who accepted English Queen Victoria's offer of Norfolk Island and all that appertains to and arrived at Norfolk on 8th June 1856. These families were the entire population of Pitcairn Island and were
the descendants of 6 mutineers of the ship HMAV Bounty, Christian, Quintal, Adams, McCoy, Young and Mills and 6 Polynesian women, Mauatua, Teio, Teraura, Wahineatua and Toofaiti who had settled Pitcairn in 1790 along with Buffett, Nobbs and Evans who married into these families.
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Norfolk Islanders cannot and will not watch their heritage replaced with dispossession of lands, breakdown of our
economy, creation of welfare dependency, loss of culture and complete loss of decisions in respect of our homeland, community foundations and way of life - a brutal colonization.
OUR EMBLEMS.
BY AN ORDER IN COUNCIL in 1856, made by HM Queen Victoria, Norfolk Island was made a distinct and separate settlement, the affairs of which were to be administered by the Governor, for the time being, of New South Wales. This Order in Council appointed a Great Seal to be kept and issued by the Governor.
The Coat of Arms was assigned to Norfolk Island on 20 October 1980 when Her Majesty The Queen signed the Royal Warrant.
The Arms has several elements, which represent aspects of the history of Norfolk Island.
The "Norfolk Island Flag and Public Seal Act"
1979 (NI) legislatively created the Norfolk Island Flag and set out rules in relation to its use. The Flag became official as at the date of the commencement of the Act on 17 January 1980." The Governor-General of Australia assented to Norfolk Island's having its own flag.
OUR VALUES.
Norfolk Island today is a reflection of the integration of 5 key values.
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Each as important as the other: their connection providing solid foundations the island and community have successfully evolved from.
ENVIRONMENT
The natural resources that
shelter and sustain us.
HERITAGE
Our heritage is unique and
defines our identity
CULTURE
Our culture is the
expression of our identity
& values.
GOVERNANCE
Our governance is determined by our Community.
COMMUNITY
The Community is the
fruit of our Values and
toil.
OUR STRUGGLE.
In response to the draconian actions of the Australian Government the "Norfolk Island People for Democracy" representing the major sector of the islands population, and the Norfolk Island Council of Elders representing the descendants of the original Pitcairn families, have joined forces to reclaim the rights of the Norfolk Island People.
With the help of many, especially Queens Council Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and Dr. Carlyle Corbin, International Advisor on Governance and United Nations expert: Norfolk Islanders seek to have Norfolk Island listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory and with the support of the United Nations together with the accepted obligations of Australia, access our full rights to freely determine our social, cultural, political and
economic future.
Norfolk Islanders cannot and will not watch their heritage replaced with dispossession of lands, breakdown of our
economy, creation of welfare dependency, loss of culture and complete loss of decisions in respect of our homeland, community foundations and way of life - a brutal colonization. The long history of colonial rule over the islands' affairs continues to prove itself short sighted and counterproductive: Nothing will ever match the generational knowledge and gifted instinct of islanders.
