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Why do we include Pitcairn Island in with our Australian related content? Pitcairn Island has very close links with an Australian territory – Norfolk Island. As we know, Pitcairn was settled by the Bounty mutineers. By the mid 19th Century, Pitcairn was at crisis point. The islanders' numbered over 150 and were increasing rapidly. The islanders had an unsuccessful attempt to relocate to Tahiti It was feared that land would soon become insufficient, and fish had deserted the coastal waters since the landslides caused by the great storm of 1845. After their experiences in Tahiti the islanders insisted that if they were compelled to emigrate it should be to an uninhabited island, and, after examining several possibilities, the majority of the community decided to move with British Government aid to Norfolk Island. It had much to recommend it. It was larger than Pitcairn and no longer inhabited as the penal settlement had been closed. Sixty earlier years of convict labour had left hundreds of acres under cultivation. It was well stocked with domestic animals; there were roads and houses and, in 1856, when the naval transport Morayshire arrived, all the 194 islanders boarded her.
This might have been the end of the Pitcairn story, but in spite of the advantages of Norfolk, many of the islanders wanted nothing more than to return home to Pitcairn Island in 1858. Others remained so the history of Pitcairn is firmly entwined in the fabric of Norfolk
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Philatelic Stories 
