ANNIVERSARY _ BUT DO WE CELEBRATE?

It was just 100 years ago that Norfolk Island was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. There was no fanfare, or anything. In fact, the people of Norfolk Island did not even know about it until after it had happened.
It probably felt like "more of the same" because 18 years before they had lost the right to be governed by their own locally elected magistrates, and had been placed under the authority of the Governor of NSW - again with no consultation.
When the locals questioned why they now came under Australia when previously they had been allied to Britain, they were told that the move would open up enormous economic advantages to them. They would no longer need to pay Australian customs duty when they exported produce into Australia.
I suppose this seemed a good idea at the time, and the many disadvantages were not really grasped. I suppose they were pretty trusting. They were, after all a territory, and not expected to be part of mainland Australia. In fact, there was a period of time in those early years when they occupied a similar status in relation to Australia as new Guinea! And no one ever thought of that country as part of Australia.
How things have changed - and Norfolk Island has never been consulted or had any say in their status. Look at New Guinea today - a separate country, whose leaders receive proper diplomatic respect from Australia's government and leaders, and who receive enormous funding from Australia.
Meanwhile anything Norfolk receives is conditional on us meeting this and that requirement, and passing laws (without the agreement of the electors, and often to their detriment.)
There was a period of paternalistic oversight in the decades that followed us coming under the Commonwealth, and to be fair, we received assistance to maintain a viable economy through agricultural enterprises. These had varying degrees of success, bit the most important factor was undoubtedly the hard work and resourcefulness of the Norfolk people.A long line of Administrators tended to govern Norfolk Island for the benefit of Norfolk Island and its people, without reference or comparison to Australia.
Now everything that happens here has to be in Australia's national interest. And promises of great economic outcomes are even emptier than before. All sorts of obstacles are put in our way for anything we want to do to help ourselves.
And now the Federal Government is demanding that we put in place local taxes that will probably tax us out of existence as a unique community, only to be replaced by those who can afford the imposts, or who are happy with an existence of welfare dependence.
It has been suggested that black armbands will be more appropriate than celebrations for this particular centenary.