Editing History of Norfolk Island (section)

==Early history==
Norfolk Island was first settled by East [[Polynesia]]n seafarers either from the [[Kermadec Islands]] north of New Zealand or from the [[North Island]] of New Zealand. They arrived in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and survived for several generations before disappearing.<ref>Helen Sampson, ''Over the Horizon: the Polynesian Settlement on Norfolk Island,'' Norfolk Island, Helen Sampson, 2005.</ref> Their main village site has been excavated at Emily Bay, and they also left behind stone tools, the [[Polynesian rat]], and [[banana tree]]s as evidence of their sojourn. They also brought the ''harakeke'' (''[[Phormium tenax]]''), or New Zealand flax plant, to Norfolk Island, either directly from New Zealand or from [[Raoul Island]] (Sunday Island).<ref>Atholl Anderson and Peter White, ''The Prehistoric Archaeology of Norfolk Island,'' Australian Museum Sydney, 2001. [http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/103116/Cun112167Coy.pdf]</ref> The flax has no relation to the European flax but is related to the [[daylily]] and other genera within the sub-family ''Hemerocallidaceae''. The final fate of the early settlers remains a mystery.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://waikowhai2.wordpress.com/mystery-islands-of-south-polynesia/#norfolk |title=Mystery Islands of Remote South Polynesia: Bibliography of Prehistoric Settlement on Norfolk Island, the Kermadecs, Lord Howe, and the Auckland Islands |author=Don Macnaughtan |access-date=30 May 2018 |year=2001 }}</ref>

The first European known to have sighted the island was [[Captain James Cook]], in 1774, on his second voyage to the South Pacific on [[HMS Resolution (Cook)|HMS ''Resolution'']], which he named after the [[Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk (d. 1773)|Duchess of Norfolk]] (c. 1712 – 1773). The Duchess was dead at the time of the island's sighting by Cook, but Cook had set out from England in 1772 and could not have known of her death in May of 1773.

Cook went ashore on Tuesday 11 October 1774 and is said to have been impressed with the tall straight trees and [[New Zealand flax]] plants, which, although not related to the Northern Hemisphere [[flax]] plants after which they are named, produce fibres of economic importance. He took samples back to Britain and reported on their potential uses for the [[Royal Navy]].

[[Andrew Kippis]] as the biographer of this voyage puts it as follows:
{{blockquote|As the Resolution pursued her course from [[New Caledonia]], land was discovered, which, on a nearer approach, was found to be an island, of good height, and five leagues in circuit. Captain Cook named it Norfolk Isle, in honour of the noble family of [[Howard (family)|Howard]]'' (Fn.: It is situated in the latitude of 29° 2' 30" south, and in the longitude of 168° 16' east). ''It was uninhabited; and the first persons that ever set foot on it were unquestionably our English navigators. Various trees and plants were observed that are common at New Zealand; and in particular, the flax plant, which is rather more luxuriant here than in any other part of that country. The chief produce of the island is a kind of spruce pine, exceedingly straight and tall, which grows in great abundance. Such is the size of many of the trees that, breast high, they are as thick as two men can fathom. Among the vegetables of the place, the [[palm-cabbage]] afforded both a wholesome and palatable refreshment; and, indeed, proved the most agreeable repast that our people had for a considerable time enjoyed...}}

The cabbage palm referred to is a cabbage tree species [[Cordyline obtecta]], also found in New Zealand, the edible heart of which resembles a small cabbage. At the time, Britain was heavily dependent on flax (''Linum usitatissimum'') (for [[sail]]s) and [[hemp]] (''Cannabis'' sp.) (for [[rope]]s) from the shores of the [[Baltic Sea]] ports. Any threat to their supply endangered Britain's sea power.<ref>John Jiggens, ''Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp: Hemp, Seapower and Empire,1776–1815,'' Indooroopilly, Jayjay, 2012.</ref> The UK also relied on timbers from [[New England]] for mainmasts, and these were not supplied after the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]]. The alternative source of Norfolk Island for these (or in the case of flax and hemp, and similar) supplies is argued by some historians, notably by [[Geoffrey Blainey]] in ''[[The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History|Tyranny of Distance]]'', as being a major reason for the founding of the [[convict settlement]] of [[New South Wales]] by the [[First Fleet]] in 1788. 

[[File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Portrait of James Cook]]'' by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland]], 1775]]

James Cook said that,
{{blockquote|"except for New Zealand, in no other island in the South Sea was wood and mast-timber so ready to hand".<ref>Georg Forster, ''Reise um die Weld'', 1777, Teil 2, reprinted in ''Georg Forsters Werke: sämmtliche Schriften'', Berlin, Akademie-verlag, Bd.3, 1965, p.339.</ref>}}

[[Sir John Call, 1st Baronet|Sir John Call]], Member of Parliament, member of the Royal Society, and former chief engineer of the [[East India Company]], stated the advantages of Norfolk Island in a proposal for colonisation he put to the Home Office in August 1784:
{{blockquote|"This Island has an Advantage not common to New Caledonia, New Holland and New Zealand by not being inhabited, so that no Injury can be done by possessing it to the rest of Mankind…there seems to be nothing wanting but Inhabitants and Cultivation to make it a delicious Residence. The Climate, Soil, and Sea provide everything that can be expected from them. The Timber, Shrubs, Vegetables and Fish already found there need no Embellishment to pronounce them excellent samples; but the most invaluable of all is the Flax-plant, which grows more luxuriant than in New Zealand."<ref>"Proposal for a Colonization of the south Pacific", August 1734(?), PRO Home 42/7: 49 57, ''Historical Records of New South Wales'', Vol.II, pp.350 67, App.A (where it is described as an "anonymous proposal"). Call's authorship is identified in Alan Frost, ''Convicts & Empire: A Naval Question, 1776 1811'', Melbourne, Oxford U.P., 1980, pp.19 26, 203.</ref>}}

[[Georg Forster|George Forster]], who had been on Cook's second voyage to the Pacific and had been with him when he landed on Norfolk Island, was at the time professor of natural history at the [[Vilnius University|University of Vilna (or Vilnius)]] in Polish Lithuania: Forster discussed the proposed [[Botany Bay]] colony in an article written in November 1786, "Neuholland, und die brittische Colonie in Botany Bay". Though unaware of the British intention to settle Norfolk Island, which was not announced until 5 December 1786, Forster referred to "the nearness of New Zealand; the excellent flax plant (''Phormium'') that grows so abundantly there; its incomparable shipbuilding timber" as among the advantages of the new colony.<ref>''Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch: oder Abriss der merkwürdigsten neuen Welt-Begebenheiten für 1787, enthaltend Zusätze zu des für das Jahr 1786 herausgegeben Geschichte der wichtigsten Staat- und Handelsveranderungen von Ostindien von M.C. Sprengel, Professor der Geschichte auf der Universität zu Halle'', Berlin, 1787, S.8, 11, 14; Zusatz 7: Historisch-Genealogischer Calender vom Jahr 1786, “Neuholland, und die brittische Colonie in Botany Bay”, S.xxxiii-liv; re-published in ''Georg Forster’s Kleine Schriften: Ein Beytrag zur Völker- und Länderkunde, Naturgeschichte und Philosophie des Lebens, gesammlet von Georg Forster'', Erster Theil, Leipzig, Kummer, 1789, S.233-74.</ref>

The proposal written by [[James Matra]] under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks for establishing a settlement in [[New South Wales]], stated that [[Botany Bay]] was: “no further than a fortnight from New Zealand, which is covered with timber even to the water's edge". The trees are immensely big and tall that a single tree is enough to make a mast of a first rate [[man-of-war|man of war]]. New Zealand, in addition, produces flax, which is an object of utility and curiosity. Any quantity of it might be raised in the colony, as this plant grows naturally in New Zealand. It can be made to serve the various purposes of cotton, hemp and linen, and is easier manufactured than any of them. In naval affairs, it exhibited great strength which is why it was regarded to be of utmost importance; a cable of {{convert|10|in|mm|spell=in}} was supposed to be of equal strength and durability to one of European hemp of eighteen inches.<ref>published in ''The General Advertiser'', and the ''[[Whitehall Evening Post]]'', 14 October, ''The Public Advertiser'',16 October, and ''The London Chronicle'' and ''The General Evening Post'', 17 October 1786.</ref>

In 1786, the British government included Norfolk Island as an auxiliary settlement, as proposed by John Call, in its plan for colonisation of New South Wales. The flax and ship timber of New Zealand were attractive, but these prospective advantages were balanced by the obvious impossibility of forming a settlement there in the face of undoubted opposition from the native Maori.<ref>Frank Clarke, "The Reasons for the Settlement of Norfolk Island, 1788", Raymond Nobbs (ed.), ''Norfolk Island and its First Settlement, 1788–1814'', Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1988, pp.28–36.</ref> There was no native population to oppose a settlement on Norfolk Island, which also possessed those desirable natural resources, but the island was too small to sustain a colony, hence the ultimate decision for a dual colonisation along the lines, proposed by Call.

The decision to settle Norfolk Island was taken under the impetus of the shock Britain had just received from Empress [[Catherine II of Russia]]. Practically all the hemp and flax required by the Royal Navy for cordage and sailcloth was imported from the Russian dominions through the ports of St. Petersburg ([[Kronstadt]]) and [[Riga]]. Comptroller of the Navy Sir Charles Middleton explained to Prime Minister Pitt in a letter on 5 September 1786: "It is for Hemp only we are dependent on Russia. Masts can be procured from Nova Scotia, and Iron in plenty from the Ores of this Country; but as it is impracticable to carry on a Naval War without Hemp, it is materially necessary to promote the growth of it in this Country and Ireland".<ref>''The Letters and Papers of Charles Middleton, Lord Barham'', Vol.2, (Navy Records Society, Vol.37), 1907, p.223.</ref> In the summer of 1786, the Empress Catherine, in the context of tense negotiations on a renewed treaty of commerce, had emphasised her control over this vital commodity by asking the merchants who supplied it to restrict sales to English buyers: “the Empress has contrary to Custom speculated on this Commodity”, complained the author of a subsequent memorandum to the Home Secretary. "It is unnecessary", said the memorandum, "to remark the Consequences which might result from a prohibition of supply from that Quarter altogether".<ref>Memorandum to Grenville on the Trade of Canada, 4 November 1789, National Archives, Kew, CO 42/66, ff.403-7; cited in Alan Frost, ''Convicts and Empire, a Naval Question'', Melbourne, Oxford UP, 1980, pp.137, 218.</ref> This implicit threat to the viability of the Royal Navy became apparent in mid-September (a month after the decision had been taken to settle Botany Bay) and caused the Pitt Administration to begin an urgent search for new sources of supply, including from Norfolk Island, which was then added to the plan to colonise New South Wales.

The need for an alternative non-Russian source of naval stores is indicated by the information from the British Ambassador in Copenhagen, Hugh Elliott, who wrote to Foreign Secretary, Lord Carmarthen on 12 August 1788:
{{blockquote|“There is no Topick so common in the Mouths of the Russian Ministers, as to insist on the Facility with which the Empress, when Mistress of the Baltic, either by Conquest, Influence, or Alliance with the other two Northern Powers, could keep England in a State of Dependence for its Baltic Commerce and Naval Stores”.<ref>Elliott to Carmarthen, 12 August 1788, National Archives, Kew, FO 22/10.</ref>}}

On 6 December 1786, an [[Order in Council]] was issued, designating "the Eastern Coast of New South Wales, or some one or other of the Islands adjacent" as the destination for transported convicts, as required by the [[Transportation, etc. Act 1784]] ([[24 Geo. 3. Sess. 2]]. c. 56) that authorised the sending of convicted felons to any place appointed by the King in Council. Norfolk Island was thereby brought officially within the bounds of the projected colony.

An article in ''The Daily Universal Register'' (the forerunner of ''The Times'') of 23 December 1786 revealed the plan for a dual colonisation of Norfolk Island and Botany Bay:
{{blockquote|"The ships for Botany Bay are not to leave all the convicts there; some of them are to be taken to Norfolk Island, which is about eight hundred miles East of Botany Bay, and about four hundred miles short of New Zealand".<ref>"Norfolk Island: Phantasy and Reality, 1770–1814", ''The Great Circle'' (Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History) vol.25, no.2, 2003, pp.20–41. Also at: http://www.nla.gov.au/pathways/jnls/austjnls/view/324.html</ref>}}

The advantage of Britain's new colony in providing a non-Russian source of flax and hemp for naval supplies was referred to in an article in ''Lloyd’s Evening Post'' of 5 October 1787 which urged: "It is undoubtedly the interest of Great-Britain to remain neutral in the present contest between the Russians and the Turks" and observed, "Should England cease to render her services to the Empress of Russia, in a war against the Turks, there can be little of nothing to fear from her ill-will. England will speedily be enabled to draw from her colony of New South Wales, the staple of Russia, hemp and flax."