THE KINGSTON EVICTIONS

It us amazing how quickly things can disappear from living memory. It only takes a generation or two, really. A number of people have said that what I have written has given them a better background knowledge and understanding of what is happening today. Those of us who were here around the time of the Nimmo Report 3o years ago find ourselves reflecting that "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Actually, ever since the time the Pitcairners first came to Norfolk Island in 1856, there has been a pattern. The people of the island have been offered or promised something, only to have it taken away. They were offered this island for their new home, and were then asked to share it with others. They were told they could live according to their own laws and ways, and then had rule imposed on them from outside. They were "granted" self-government, and now it may be taken away. As Geoff Bennett and Lisle Snell said in their recent letter to the Minister, we have failed to "nail down the deal" and have found that we have continually been disadvantaged by less than honourable colonial governments.
When I first came to the island, the incident of the "Kingston Evictions" was still vivid in the collective memory of Norfolk Islanders. There were still many who actually remembered the event, which had taken place nearly 60 years before. It has been glossed over in history books, such as Merval Hoare's, but what happened burned a feeling of deep distrust and suspicion towards Australia in the older Norfolk Islanders.
My own mother-in-law, Dorothy Bailey, was a child of 6 at the time, and was at the home of Jemima Christian, who lived at Number 9 Quality Row. Number 9 had been George Hunn Nobbs' residence, allocated to him after the arrival of the Pitcairners in 1856. Jemima was his daughter, a widow, and she had cared for her father, and continued to occupy the house after his death.
The occupants of these buildings in 1908, often second and third generation of the original occupants, were asked by Australia to sign a document recognising that they had no right of ownership of the buildings, but occupied them by special licence.
The Australian representative at the time, a Captain Drake, was so upset by the reaction of grief and sorrow when he conveyed the decision to the people, that he offered to resign his position. (It was accepted.) His successors were prepared to carry out the task, however. Young Norfolk men, including some who had fought in the Boer War, were pressed into service as special constables.
Only two households agreed to sign, evidently families who had nowhere else to go. Most chose to go "up country " and live with families. Dorothy remembers that Jemima waited on her verandah for the constables to come. The wife of the Administrator came along and offered her refreshments, but she refused, saying she could not possibly drink anything.
Some people were forcibly carried out. One lady, who occupied the present Golf House, turned her calves on the constables.
Whether the Australian Government took this action because they believed the occupants were not maintaining the buildings properly, or because the Crown simply wished to assert its title to them, or a combination of both, is unclear. The Pitcairners certainly did not have access to the vast amount of convict labour to maintain these stone buildings as had their previous occupants.
In any case, after they left, most were neglected and fell into ruins anyway!
I am not suggesting that we continue to carry around feelings of resentment about what happened to previous generations of Norfolkers by previous Australian governments. However, I do believe that the time has come for some certainty about our rights and our constitutional status. The question needs to be settled once and for all, and it must be done with truth, honesty and justice, qualities that have been sadly lacking in our relationship with Colonial and Australian Governments in the past.

I am sorry there is no illustration today...I know it makes it easier to read and remember when there are pictures. But the program seems to have a glitch today, which hopefully will get sorted out.