THE KIWI CONNECTION

Well, the Kiwi connection is obvious, isn't it?
For one thing, we are pretty close geographically speaking. A flight to Auckland is almost like a short bus trip, while a plane journey to Aussie is starting to get into the full-day excursion, cut-lunch thing.
And a lot of New Zealanders live here. Some have been here for two or three generations, and even quite a lot of Norfolk Islander Bounty descendants have Kiwi passports!
During the war, at one stage there were as many as 2000 N.Z. servicemen stationed here, and a few of them fell in love with the island, or a local girl, and made the island their new home.
There are other factors that make us feel more "at home" in New Zealand. They can cope with "small government" far better than Australia, and they seem to be better at applying good housekeeping principles and budgeting to running the place.
We relate well to our Polynesian cousins, the Maori people, and they fit in well when they come here to Norfolk Island. Come to think of it, although they may have a few real grumbles, the Polynesian communities under the oversight of the New Zealand government have fared far better than Australia's Aboriginal people.
You frequently hear the view expressed that Norfolk Island may fare better as a territory of New Zealand. That is not a new idea!
Soon after the Pitcairners arrived on Norfolk Island, Bishop Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, ensured that his Bishopric included Norfolk Island, and was taking a considerable paternal interest in the well-being and spiritual welfare of the Pitcairners. The connection remained strong through the 50 or more years that the Melanesian Mission operated on the island.
But there was a time when New Zealand came strongly to Norfolk Island's defence.
In the 1890's, when the plans were in place to annex Norfolk Island to New South Wales, the NZ Government put forward strong and forceful claims for the right to oversee Norfolk affairs. Not only did they feel it was a more logical and convenient because of the geographic proximity and the fact that the island came under NZ ecclesiastically, but they were strongly critical of the proposed actions by the Governor of NSW.
"..there were insufficient grounds for the contemplated abrogation of the rights and privileges of the Islanders. It was pointed out that the original agreement with the islanders was that 'while their island was, and would remain, an integral portion of the Empire, they should enjoy local self-government without interference."
Sadly, the proposals did not eventuate, but the concept was to be brought up again at various stages of the island's history, particularly during a Royal Commission in 1926.
One wonders how we would have fared as an external territory of New Zealand. A little better, I suspect, than we have done as a territory under the Commonwealth of Australia.
But we will never really know, will we?