28. Feb
2015

Phillip Island

History, Nature
 

If you look across the island from Castaway you can see Phillip Island, seven kilometres south of Norfolk.  It is a fascinating part of Norfolk Island history.

Three million years ago Norfolk Island was many times the size it is today and consisted of one enormous, and very active volcano. When it finally erupted, the force must have been felt half way across the globe. Much of the outer island sank beneath the sea and all that was left was a five by eight kilometre fragment and a tinier, two by three kilometre speck. These were named many millennia later, Norfolk Island and Phillip Island respectively. Read more

28. Feb
2015

Our Sirius connection

History
 

The “Sirius”, flagship of the first fleet that arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788, was the main supply ship for the fledgling colony and its companion settlement on Norfolk Island.  Those first few years were extremely hard as everything had to be established from scratch and there were many mouths to feed.  The colony in Sydney Cove really struggled and was more and more dependent on the ability of the Norfolk Island settlement to provide fresh meat and vegetables via the ever reliable “Sirius”.

In March 1790 the Sirius arrived off Norfolk Island, filled with supplies, several hundred convicts, freedmen and soldiers, most of whom were en route to Sydney from England.  The Sirius therefore is important in Australian and Norfolk Island history.

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