SETTLEMENT OF NORFOLK ISLAND. 



luxuriantly, and much finer than he had seen it in New 

 Zealand. The woods abounded with pigeons, parrots, parra- 

 keets, hawks, and many New Zealand birds. The island was 

 uninhabited. The party from the Resolution may have been 

 the first human beings to tread its tangled forests, though it is 

 possible that at isolated periods previously Maori canoes had 

 been dri ven by heavy south-east storms from the coast of New 

 Zealand, and that shipwrecked Maoris had maintained an 

 existence on the island for years ; for in the early days of the 

 settlement two canoes were found on the beaches, and it is said 

 stone adzes resembling those in use in New Zealand were turned 

 up when the land was being broken up for cultivation. Cook 

 gave but a few hours to the examination of the island, and on 

 the following day sailed away for New Zealand. On the pub- 

 lication of his book, his description, brief as it was, of the 

 capabilities of Norfolk Island, of its rich soil, its dense pine 

 forests, and profuse growth of New Zealand flax, attracted 

 attention to it as a desirable possession. Consequently, when 

 the Government in the year 1787 resolved on establishing a 

 penal settlement at Botany Bay, it was determined to occupy 

 this promising island as a dependency of the principal colony. 

 In the Royal instructions to Governor Phillip the following 

 passage occurs : — " Norfolk Island .... being represented 

 as a spot which may hereafter become useful, you are, as soon 

 as circumstances admit of it, to send a small establishment 

 thither to secure the same to 'us, and prevent it being occupied by 

 the subjects of any other European power." The instructions 

 also contain directions to the Governor as to the cultivation 

 of the flax-plant, and its use in manufacturing clothing for 

 the convicts and also for maritime purposes. 



Little more than a week after Governor Phillip had landed 

 on the site of Sydney (6th February, 1788), Philip Gidley 

 King, then a young lieutenant on board II. M.S. Sirhts, 

 received his commission as Superintendent and Commandant of 

 the settlement of Norfolk Island, with orders to take a small 

 party of people and some live stock to this distant isle, which 

 was intended to serve as a place of seclusion for troublesome 

 characters, and as a possible succour for the main settlement in 

 case of famine. The party placed under King's charge was 

 very similar to that which 15 years later he himself despatched 

 under Lieut. Bowcn to occupy Risdon on the Derwent. It 

 consisted of an officer and surgeon from H.M.S. Sirius, four 

 seamen and two marines from the same vessel, with nine male 

 and six female convicts. They sailed from Port Jackson in 

 the armed tender Supply, and were 14 days before, on 29tl) 

 February, they came in sight of their destination. For days 

 they cruised round the island searching in vain for a harbour 

 or even a landing-place, sometimes in the ship, sometimes 



