DEPORTATION TO THE DERWENT. 



25 



With respect to Norfolk Island, it was found undesirable, if 

 not impossible, to abandon it entirely. There was still a herd 

 of cattle and also some 3000 sheep which could not be at once 

 removed. A small party was to be left to look after the stock 

 and to try whether it was possible to cultivate coffee. Captain ■ 

 Piper reports, 30 Sept., 1808, after sailing of the City of Edin- 

 burgh, that there were still 250 persons on the island. 



From the Report of the Parliamentary Committee above 

 quoted it appears that in 1812 the Island was not wholly 

 deserted. There were still a few settlers and some soldiers. 

 A Return, dated 30 April, 1810, shows 98 free persons (of 

 whom 61 were men) and 26 convicts, the military and officers 

 numbering 53 ; total, 177. 



The settlers from Norfolk Island were given lands at New 

 Norfolk and Sandv Bay, at Pittwater (Sorell), and Clarence 

 Plains in the South, and at Norfolk Plains on the Northern 

 side of the Island. These grants were at first small, seldom 

 exceeding 40 acres. A certain proportion of the Norfolk 

 Islanders'— especially the marines and sailors who came out 

 with Governor Phillip in 1788, and went to the island with 

 King, and some of the crew of the Sirius— who had prospered 

 in Norfolk Island, prospered also in Van Diemen's Land, 

 and their families have continued to hold respectable and 

 honourable positions in (his Colony. But, as a rule, the 

 Norfolk Island settlers did not add much to the welfare and 

 progress of the settlement at the Derwent. 



The great majority, idle and improvident in their old home, 

 did not improve by removal. They were content to draw 

 their rations from the stores so long as that privilege was 

 allowed them, and then bartered away their grants for a trifle, 

 to sink out of sight in poverty and wretchedness. 



