History first recorded the discovery of Norfolk Island by Captain Cook in 1774; however, recent excavations have confirmed that the first settlers of Norfolk Island were Polynesians some 800 years prior to that. European occupation began in 1788 with the arrival of a party of convicts and soldiers who established an agricultural settlement to provide food for the colony at Sydney Cove. The island was not needed by 1804 and it was progressively evacuated with the last prisoners leaving the Island in 1814.
In 1825 the Island was re-opened as a penal settlement for secondary offenders – to be a place of extreme punishment. Conditions were appalling and treatment hellish of the convicts. In 1852 Bishop Wilson, who had found conditions so bad recommended closure and most of the population was removed between 1847 and 1855.
In 1856 Norfolk Island was resettled with the arrival of the entire Pitcairn Island community who relocated here. Most of these settlers were descendants of the Bounty Mutineers and their Tahitian wives. Today on Norfolk Island, approximately one third of the population is of Pitcairn descent.
