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Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia, situated in the south-west Pacific Ocean. The Norfolk Island Act 1979, passed by the Australian Parliament, provides the island with limited self-government.
British naval officer, Captain James Cook, first sighted Norfolk Island in 1774 and reported that the Norfolk Island pine, a dominant feature of the island, could potentially be harvested and used for ships' masts.
However, the trees proved useless as masts because they were too brittle and Norfolk became a brutal
penal settlement of Britain from 1788 until 1855.
In 1856, after the penal colony was closed, some descendents of the mutinous crew of
HMS Bounty were moved to Norfolk Island from Pitcairn Island, where they had sought refuge after the mutiny.
The flag was adopted on the 11th of January 1980. |
