Photos of Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area

A Georgian built Officer's residence on Quality Row on Norfolk Island. This was officer accommo by denisbin

Norfolk Second Phase Convict Era History. Archaeological digs by the Australian National University and the well documented convict system allowed researchers to piece together the history of this phase. Their work resulted in Kingston, Arthur’s Vale Historic Area (KAVHA) being made a World Heritage site in 2010. Like Port Arthur on Van Diemen’s Land, Norfolk was reserved for the “worse of the worst “prisoners which usually meant they had been convicted twice of a crime. The crimes themselves were not especially heinous or bad and 88% had committed non-violent crimes against property. Many were kept in leg irons and chained together, but to where could they escape? They worked in the mill and building the roads and prisons and officers houses. The convicts built the Quality Row houses for the officers, the hospital, and the barracks for the troops, the store rooms, the Commissariat Store and the new model prison of the 1840s etc. The whole site is of world importance as it exemplifies the British Empire convict system on the early 1800s. It is also infamous for its inhumanity and the degrading way of treating convicts. The Federal Government started restoring and preserving this area in 1973. This area contains many buildings historic and cultural significance including: Government House (1829+); the Old Military Barracks from 1829 (now the Legislative Assembly and Norfolk Island Court); the Commissariat Store (now All Saints Church 1835) – the finest commissariat store left in Australia; the New Military Barracks (now Norfolk Island Government Administration offices of 1836); the nine houses that provided quarters for military and civil officers (1832-47); the Prisoners' Barracks (1828-48) including the Protestant Chapel; the New Prison (Pentagonal Prison) (1836-40 and 1845-57); the ruins of the hospital (1829); the Surgeon's Quarters and Kitchen (1827); the Landing Pier (1839-47) and sea wall; and Beach store (1825); the Settlement Guardhouse (1826), the Crankmill (1827-38); the Royal Engineer's office and stables (1850); the Police Office, now boatshed (1828-29); the Blacksmith's Shop (1846); the Salt House (1847); and the Windmill base (1842-43). The Cemetery (1825-present) has an outstanding collection of headstones and other remains dating from the earliest period of European settlement, including the first and second penal settlement periods. Many stone walls, wells, drains, building platforms, bridges, culverts, roads, quarry sites, and privies add to the archaeological evidence for Norfolk including the remains of Bloody Bridge. The remnant serpentine landscape is an outstanding example of colonial period attitudes to landscape design in Australia. When the Pitcairn Islanders arrived in 1856 they were housed in the former penal settlement buildings and houses. When the government evicted them in 1908 many of these structures were then destroyed by fire. Some have since been restored. Brief History of Norfolk as a Penal Settlement. As noted previously Norfolk was settled to provide flax fibre rope, flax sails and tree masts from Norfolk Island pine trees and also because it was uninhabited. It was also an island paradise with rich volcanic soils. Its only major drawback was its isolation and its lack of a good harbour. Its history falls into several phases. Phase One- 1788-1814. This phase was run along the same lines as the settlement of Sydney. Both men and women convicts were quartered here. The women were to work making flax rope and sails and the men were to do the building, road making, land clearing, agriculture and stone masonry work. Some free settlers came too. The settlement was centred on Kingston (then called Sydney) and nearby Arthur’s Vale (watermill valley.) By 1806 the population had reached over 1,000 people. Then for financial reasons- the cost of sending supply ships from Sydney to Norfolk was too great- the evacuation of the island was ordered. Convicts and other settlers were moved to Van Diemen’s Land- hence the settlements there of New Norfolk and Norfolk Plains (later Longford.) Phase Two- 1825-1855. This time the island was run as a total penitentiary for the worse offenders. There would be no escape from Norfolk Island. Conditions were harsh, severe and degrading. It was a place of extreme punishment. The worst commandant was Captain Turton. During the period 1840-44 conditions were slightly better. Free settlers were not encouraged to settle during this second phase but a few of the best behaved convicts were allowed to work small farms across the island. Massive government expenditure on the penitentiary meant that fine sandstone Georgian buildings were erected and like Port Arthur in Tasmania many of them still remain. A large prison was built in the 1840s, and the prison required large military barracks, large stores and Commissariat stores, officer headquarters, a large hospital etc and good quality homes for the prison and military officers on the island. Kingston remained the administration and shipping centre of the island. Phase Three – 1856-. In the third phase some of the original stone buildings were dismantled or left to go to ruins. Some were burnt down or the stone re-used for other structures. But the major feature of this period was the introduction of 194 Pitcairn Islanders in 1856. Norfolk remained isolated and largely forgotten. At one stage the Governor of NSW (the British Crown representative in charge of the island) ordered that the Pitcairn Islanders could no longer reside in the former penal settlement buildings in Kingston. This was in 1908 just before the Commonwealth government took charge. The resentment of this change led to fires and some beautiful buildings being destroyed. In 1893 Norfolk got a telegraph office and an underwater cable link to the world via Canada. Soon it had a cable link to New Zealand and a cable station opened at Anson Bay in 1902. Once it became a territory of the new Australian federal government conditions improved a little. Shipping came irregularly but during World War Two the Australian government built an airstrip for defence reasons. Flights continued after the War and now the main linkage between Norfolk and Australia is by air. The federal government has also put more money into other facilities on the island including the Botanic Gardens, and all the restoration work at Kingston etc.
Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area is a tourist attraction, one of the World Heritage Sites in Kingston, Norfolk Island. Read further
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