WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE BRAZIL?

Before our arrival back in Brazil, I spent the previous 6 months on a remote South Pacific island. It is situated 1,000 miles east of Brisbane and 800 miles north of New Zealand. Although it is an offshore island of Australia, the whole time I was there I never heard the Australian National Anthem sung, only “God save the Queen” and the Pitcairn Island Anthem. But let’s start at the beginning then you will understand what is so special about Norfolk Island.

It was in April 1789, 1,300 miles from Tahiti, Fletcher Christian, with 18 of the 42-man Bounty crew on his side, entered Captain William Bligh’s cabin and forced him to leave the ship. Bligh and 22 others were set adrift in the Bounty’s launch but amazingly survived and made it to Timor. He later faced a court martial for losing his ship but was acquitted and vowed to find the mutineers.

The mutineers had landed on the uninhabited Pitcairn Island, where they burnt the Bounty. Amongst precious stores from the ship, they kept the Bible and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. For 25 years warships of the Royal Navy searched the South Pacific to bring the mutineers to justice but found no trace of them.

Now, a naval officer’s logbook containing a brief account of the rediscovery of Pitcairn Island, where the mutineers had taken refuge, has turned up in a house clearance in Cambridge. The log was kept by a junior officer serving on board the Royal Navy ship Briton, which put into Pitcairn Island in September 1814. It was there it found the last surviving mutineer, John Adams, the leader of a thriving Christian community. He and Fletcher Christian had decided to teach the children their mother tongue, the English language, using the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. They and most of the families concerned made a commitment of their lives to Christ, a decision that was to have lasting consequences for the whole community.

On September 17, 1814 Midshipman Hoodthorp wrote: “We found the island inhabited by the descendants of Mr F. Christian and mutinous crew of the Bounty settled here AD1788…” However, his log gives the wrong date as the mutiny did not take place until 1789, with the mutineers settling on Pitcairn in 1790.

Before the Briton arrived all but a few of the original mutineers had either murdered each other or drunk themselves to death. HMS Briton and her sister ship HMS Tagus were there for less than a day, but several of the islanders visited the ship including Thursday Christian, Fletcher Christian’s eldest son. The visitors agreed it would be “an act of great cruelty” to arrest Adams. In 1825, he was granted amnesty and the island’s capital, Adamstown, is named after him. He died in 1829 aged 62. Some of Fletcher Christian’s descendants live on the island which has a population of around 50. It is one of the world’s most remote communities, halfway between New Zealand and Chile and proudly states that it is the world’s smallest democracy.

In the 19^th century the population outgrew its 5 square kilometres and when Queen Victoria learned of their new-found faith, she gave them Norfolk Island and all 193 islanders moved there. Within 18 months many, of them, homesick and miserable, returned to Pitcairn, where their descendants still live. However, others stayed and five family names dominate all others on Norfolk Island, Evans, Christian, Adams, Quintal and Buffet.

There are two Anglican churches on the island, All Saints, named the “Pitcairners Church” where a small congregation still meets for worship every Sunday night. On the annual Thanksgiving Day the church is full as all the inhabitants and tourists flock to give thanks for the harvest. There is also St Barnabas Chapel, built by the Melanesian Brothers and local folk to commemorate the martyrdom of Bishop Patterson. This is a fine building of local stone from the former convict penitentiary and stone floor shipped out from Devon.

It has been a real privilege for me to serve the Norfolk Islanders and share God's word with them. I am so grateful for the time I spent getting to know folks and enjoying the beauty of this unique South Pacific island.

I have been asked to return again towards the end of 2011 but this is in the Lord's hands as I did not feel I could give a definite answer at this time.
Photos of Norfolk Island coming soon.