Story: Private Guide of The Kingston World Heritage Site
Episode: 4
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
Air Date: 26 June 2021

The history of Norfolk Island is fascinating and complex. Trevor takes a private tour of The Kingston World Heritage site, digging even deeper to uncover the dark history of the island.

• The Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (KAVHA), on Norfolk Island, is of outstanding significance to the nation as a convict settlement spanning the era of transportation to eastern Australia between 1788–1855.
• It is the only site in Australia to display evidence of early Polynesian settlement and the place where the Pitcairn Island descendants of the Bounty mutineers were re-settled in 1856.
• The prison was built in the 1830’ and the cells of the historic prison were specifically designed so that they were slightly shorter in length than the average man, at that time, was in height.
• The prison site closed down in 1756 and the stone that made up the prison was taken to build houses on the island. However, the walls of the prison remain.
• Europeans were not the first people to inhabit Norfolk Island. Stone tools have been found at both Emily and Slaughter bays within KAVHA.
• Archaeological investigations have revealed evidence of landscape modifications in the Emily Bay area including artefact assemblages and structural remains.
• These artefacts have been interpreted as a rudimentary marae, a religious structure characteristic of East Polynesian culture.

For more information:
https://www.norfolkisland.com.au/