Considering its isolated position, 1500km from Australia, and being the above sea parts of the submerged Norfolk Ridge, Norfolk Island has had a colourful history. Infamous highlights are the fact that despite being considered a paradise it was a place where convicts had to work as slaves and also is where the descendents of the Bounty with their Tahitian wives live.
The traditional modes of living here in many aspects have been preserved but have absorbed modern amenities which may be of delight to the visitor. Approximately a third of the island is covered in natural parks and reserves, although there is also a golf course and other sporting opportunities not neglecting the water sports of course. A better vestige of the colonial influence is the set of Georgian buildings on Quality Row. There are a few museums allowing some insight into the island's past, these include the Pier Store, the Commissariat Store and the Royal Engineer's Office and Guard House.
Norfolk Island was a penal colony for the British colony of New South Wales during the periods 1788–1814 and 1825–1855. In 1856 it was settled by former inhabitants of the largest of the Pitcairn Islands. The Pitcairn Islanders were descendants of Fletcher Christian and Bounty mutineers, together with Tahitian women. Pitcairn Island was unable to support 200 inhabitants, and Queen Victoria offered them Norfolk Island. Permanent residents of Norfolk Island are still almost entirely descendants of these Pitcairn Islanders; other Australian citizens cannot move to Norfolk Island freely. The permanent population of the island is about 2000 people.
