A LETTER IN PRAISE OF NORFOLK ISLANDERS

I  have lived on this island for 48 years now, and feel enormous gratitude for privilege. But today I also feel a deep sadness for those people adopted this as their home in 1856, when it was NOT PART OF AUSTRALIA. They are being ignored and overlooked, and face having so much taken away from them. At a time when being an Australian is expected to take precedence over your identity as a Norfolk Islander, when your special relationship with this island seems to count for nothing, I would like to say the following:

*Norfolk Islanders, your forbears arrived here from Pitcairn and grew a beautiful, peaceful and productive island home from a hell hole of a British penal colony.

*From uncertain beginnings, you have shown you are survivors.

*You are a people who have inspired the world with your special story.

*You have carved out a lovely way of life through your resourcefulness, in spite of the challenges and difficulties of your remote isolation and small numbers.

*You have demonstrated the best of both your Polynesian and your British heritage to develop a rich culture, further enhanced by those who have joined you in calling this island home.

*You have always responded with grace and dignity in spite of the many injustices you have experienced at the hands those who had been entrusted with the oversight and protection of your island.

*You have sustained and cared for one another through good times and bad. 

*You have loved and cared for your island that was gifted to you by Queen Victoria.

*You have managed its resources wisely and kept it beautiful.

*Over a long period of time, you have managed to educate your children, care for your sick and elderly, support those who have fallen on hard times, maintain your infrastructure, and protect your history and heritage.

*You have lived modestly, but with contentment, envying no one, comparing yourself to no one, staying true to yourselves and your own special identity and way of life.

*You have welcomed others into your community and have valued their participation and contribution. You have invited them to embrace your special values and welcomed their sense of belonging to this island.

*You have demonstrated a spirit of friendship and co-operation with all your Pacific neighbours, and especially Australia. You have served in her forces, fought in her wars, contributed to her economy, and shown respect and courtesy to her officials and representatives.

*You have been adaptable and tolerant, while remaining true to your unique heritage

*You led the world with female suffrage and free and compulsory education, and have always placed a high value of a free and democratic society.

*Your community pride, your "come-from", your good humour, your resilience and your faith have kept you strong through many times of adversity and change.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO SPEAK UP AND FOR YOUR WISHES TO BE HEARD, RESPECTED AND THIS IS YOUR ISLAND, YOUR HOME. DO NOT LET ANYONE MAKE YOU FEEL YOU DO NOT MATTER, OR USURP WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY YOURS. YOUR SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS ISLAND, YOUR HOMELAND, SHOULD BE ACKNOWLEDGED AND CELEBRATED!

Mary Christian-Bailey

FROM FORMER ADMINISTRATOR OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Some years ago, a Senate Standing Committee, in a report on Norfolk Island Affairs, pressed the usual line about Norfolk Island needing to be brought more firmly under Australia's umbrella, because we were like naughty children who were denying ourselves all the so called wonderful benefits of being like  other Australians! One of theSenate committee members, Sophie Mirabella (or Panopoulos as she was then) provided a dissenting report, saying that they did not want to create another basket case like Christmas island.
Here Jon Stanhope, who has recently finished his tenure as Administrator of Christmas Island, reinforces that view. He bemoans the lack of democracy there, as well as the provision of very basic human services.

"There are aspects of Noel Towell's report on planned changes to the constitutional status of Norfolk Island (''Norfolk Island ministers fear return to colonial-style rule'', October 10, p4) that do not ring true. It is simply not conceivable that the Commonwealth would be proposing, in the 21st century, to unilaterally remove the democratic rights of an entire Australian community, namely that of Norfolk Island, and impose in their stead the non-democratic and paternalistic 19th-century British colonial regime that applies in Christmas and Cocos islands.

If there was a skerrick of truth to this, surely the three mainland federal representatives of the people of Norfolk Island, namely Gai Brodtmann MP and Senators Seselja and Lundy, would be out manning the barricades in support of their constituents' basic democratic and human rights. Their silence suggests the residents of Norfolk Island have nothing to worry about.

While I have no reason to doubt Senator Seselja's commitment to basic democratic rights, I would not presume to speak for him, but I cannot imagine any situation in which either Ms Brodtmann or Senator Lundy, or, indeed, any of my federal Labor Party colleagues, would even give a passing thought to a proposal to annul self-government on Norfolk Island.

Such a possibility, as reported by Noel Towell, that Norfolk Island may be facing the prospect of having imposed on it, by the Commonwealth, the electoral system enjoyed by the people of North Korea has to be a desperate beat-up. Surely it can't be true. Can it?

Jon Stanhope"

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NORFOLK ISLAND (and probably won't be told officially by those who think it is just a remote part of Australia)

I have been very actively working Facebook lately. Can't leave it to the young ones completely, although they are also doing a great job in getting the message out there that Norfolk Island, its government and its people are being very shamefully treated by Australia's government and bureaucracy. Here I have collated some of my posts from the last three days.

NORFOLK ISLANDERS are a unique and ethnically distinct race, descended from the British Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian partners. Over the years many of us have been welcomed into this community, and able to share in the benefits of their unique heritage and culture. However, Norfolk Islanders do not have any special rights here in their own homeland. It is called racial discrimination to allow that. For a while the clause "special relationship" was used to make it easier 

for a Norfolk Islander to migrate back to the island. Now Australia has decreed that any Australian or New Zealander can live here, no questions asked. And yes, we make them feel welcome.

A targeted program of propaganda and policy directions is threatening to dilute and even extinguish the unique Norfolk Islander identity. Canberra clearly states that it is governing Norfolk Island for the Australians who live here - there is absolutely no protection for the Norfolk Islander for whom this is a homeland (they have no other, just a family link with Pitcairn)

Do they have to blacken their faces to earn just a little bit of the token acknowledgement that Australia's indigenous people receive?..

Yesterday, I wrote about Norfolk Island as the homeland of the Norfolk Islanders, a distinct ethnic group. They are the indigenous people of Norfolk Island. However, their jobs are gradually going to be given to those brought in by Canberra to "run the show". The land they hold in trust for their children - because without Norfolk Island citizenship this is the only way they can call Norfolk Island "HOME" - will be sold because of the pressure of land taxes the Federal Government is forcing us to impose.
Funnily enough, the Norfolk language has official U.N. recognition. But what's the use if there are no Norfolk Islanders left here to speak it with each other?

So Norfolk's culture will happily slot in alongside that of all the other ethnic minorities that live in Australia? I think not.
You see, not only did this community have its origins somewhere other than Australia, they never actually migrated to Australia. They never actually asked to come under Australia's authority, and were never consulted about it. They never asked to become part of Australia, and were never asked if that was what they wanted. They were never asked if they wanted Australian citizenship, and had no choice...I could go on.
But every other ethnic group in Australia (except the Aborigines)has a "homeland" somewhere else in the world where their culture is established and flourishing in its own unique way, and which they can refer back to - or even return to!. This island is our only homeland. (And bless you, we DO have family in Pitcairn, where it all began. They have problems with colonial overlords too!!)