Tag: Pitcairn Islands stamp

Pitcairn Island 1983, Looking for seals, Folger’s Topaz finds a functioning settlement

Post author By John C
Post date June 22, 2023

So many of these tiny volcanic islands were at one time occupied by pirates and mutineers. Only on one island group did the castoffs make a go of it. Thanks to John Adams, the last of the mutineers off the HMS Bounty, a functioning settlement of 46 was found 19 years later by a passing American ship. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows John Adams presenting to Topaz Captain Mayhew Folger the ship chronometer from HMS Bounty as a souvenir of his short eight hour visit to Pitcairn in 1808. Captain Folger did not get to keep the memento long. He showed it later to the then Spanish Governor of what is now the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe. The Governor was so impressed he stole it. The chronometer passed through several Spanish hands before being acquired by the British Museum in 1840.

Todays stamp is issue A43, a 1.20 New Zealand Dollar stamp issued by the British Colony of the Pitcairn Islands on June 14th, 1983. It was a 4 stamp issue in various denominations honouring the 175th anniversary of the visit of the Topaz. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 unused.

Fletcher Christian decided upon unoccupied Pitcairn as his group’s refuge. It took him several months to find it, it’s recorded position was over 100 miles off. His group included 9 Englishmen, 6 Tahitian men, 12 Tahitian females, and one little girl. Everything useful was removed from HMS Bounty and the ship was burned. Early on there was much racial tension with love triangles and the mixed blessing of one of the Englishman rigging up a still that made a brandy from the tri root. It was decided among the Tahitian men to murder all the Englishmen. 5 of the Englishmen were murdered including Fletcher Christian. The Tahitian men did not count on what happened next from the Tahitian woman. All four of them were murdered in their sleep by the widows of the Englishman.

John Adams was now the leader of the half of the settlement that wasn’t drunk all the time and there were soon lots of babies to raise. When the Topaz arrived the settlement was up to 46 mainly children with John Adams the Governor and the last of the 9 Englishmen. The Bounty’s Union Jack flew over the colony. The Topaz, an American ship was not looking for Pitcairn, it had sailed from Boston looking for seals. The next year Captain Folger submitted a report to the British Admiralty. No action was taken due to the amount of time that had passed and the more pressing issue of the Napoleonic wars. Soon after Topaz’s journey, Captain Folger moved to Ohio and took up the noble profession of Postmaster.

Today Pitcairn has 50 residents with a capital called Adamstown. It is administered under the British Governor General of New Zealand. New Zealand also handles the Island’s postal offerings.

Well my drink is empty and with the rest of the world stuck at home in the style of Pitcairn, I will soon have to decide whether I want to join the half that is drunk all the time. Update, I decided mostly against the proposition. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Norfolk Island, people come (in chains), people go

Post author By John C
Post date July 11, 2022

Norfolk is a small island dependent on Australia with a declining and aging population. Australia wonders if it is worth keeping it occupied. It has been that way from the beginning. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

One way for a small island to generate some revenue is to contract out to print stamps for the worldwide stamp collector. The island petitioned repeatedly for the right to print stamps and Australia granted it right before World War II but the stamps themselves had to wait till after the war. It helps if the island is a part of the British Commonwealth, which Norfolk is by extension by way of Australia. The fact that many of the current residents of Norfolk are descended from immigrants from Pitcairn Island guaranteed there would be stamps, as they are big business on Pitcairn. However in 2016 as part of the reorganization of Norfolk’s administration, the separate Norfolk postal system was shut down and anything newer is printed by and for Australia.

Todays stamp is issue A22, a 5 Australian cent stamp issued by The Australian self governing dependency of Norfolk Island on October 27th, 1968. It was a single stamp issue depicting a mother of pearl carving of the Nativity in celebration of Christmas that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents whether mint or used.

Though a Polynesian settlement had at one time existed, Norfolk was unoccupied when spotted by Captain Cook in 1774. He named it after Mary Howard, the Duchess of Norfolk. She had asked Captain Cook to name an island for her but by the time he did unknown to him, she had died the year before. New Zealand style flax was growing there wildly and that attracted the first penal colony from New South Wales to better cultivate it. The flax became less valuable and it was decided that the penal colony be abandoned in 1814.

In 1824, Tasmania and Britain had ideas for a second penal colony specifically to house the worst criminals that had been sentenced to death but as was common then seen that sentence commuted to life in prison. Thus an island 900 miles offshore was ideal. In the 1850s the importation of convicts to Tasmania had ended and it was soon again decided to abandon the facility on Norfolk.

The facilities left by the penal colony proved attractive and 189 residents of Pitcairn Island landed in 1856. The were mainly descendants of the Tahitian wives of the HMS Bounty mutineers. The colony resembled Pitcairn, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/29/pitcairn-islands-1967-an-island-with-more-stamps-than-people-this-one-overprinted-in-gold/ , but was less religious. A native dialect even developed that was a combination of 18th century English and Tahitian called norfuk. The island was administered by New South Wales both before and after the creation of Australia. An airstrip was built on the island during World War II to take advantage of it being half way between Australia and New Zealand.

Australia granted much self rule after the war but things did not go well. As Australian citizens, the young adults mostly leave seeking work and study opportunities and tourism is the only real industry. An appeal was made to Australia in 2010 for additional subsidies. The Australians responded by shuttering the local institutions and taking more direct control. The dole became Australia level generous but for the first time, Norfolk residents were expected to pay Australian income tax. This was quite a blow on the island and now there is talk of appealing this to the United Nations as a nation being held against it’s will by another. Meanwhile every year the population drops and there are now barely 1000 residents. I doubt the UN will take up their case as the Norfolk islanders are white. Interestingly the island has so few last names that the phone book included nicknames like Diddles and Rubber duck.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another in remembrance of the former Norfolk postal service. Maybe I am just still thirsty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Tags Australia stamp, Norfolk Island Stamp, Pitcairn Islands stamp

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Pitcairn Islands 1967, An island with more stamps than people, this one overprinted in gold!

Post author By John C
Post date November 29, 2018

50 people on a hard to find group of islands. They must send a lot of letters as they have plenty of stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Obviously a postage stamp from a sort or real life Gilligan’s Island will mainly serve the international collector. That said, some of these tiny still English colonies do it right. The HM Armed Ship Bounty, that played such a central part of the islands history. Queen Elizabeth, youthful and crowned, looking out for her far off realm. The peace de resistance is the change to decimal currency being used for an overprint in gold, with an intricate representation of the Bounty’s anchor.

Todays stamp is issue A14, a one cent stamp issued by the British colony of Pitcairn Islands on July 10th, 1967. It was part of a 13 stamp issue in various denominations that overprinted a 1964 issue in the earlier currency. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents. The unoverprinted early version 1 penny version is worth 25 cents. There is a misprint of the 10 cent overprint that included the gold anchor but fails to include the 10 cent denomination. It is worth $2,000.

Pitcairn Island was first spotted by the HMS Swallow in 1767. It is named for Robert Pitcairn, a 15 year old midshipman on board who actually laid eyes on it. The Captain of the Swallow misrecorded the location so that Captain Cook could not find it again later. There is evidence of an earlier Polynesian colony but it had gone extinct. Who did find it were the mutineers of the HMS Bounty and their Tahitian wives and helpers. 21 people came ashore and the Bounty was scuttled in 1795. Their first years were rough with alcoholism and several murders but a mutineer with the ships Bible was able to establish a more Christian society of peace. A missionary that passed through in the 19th century found an active Christian congregation and temperance society.

The islands’ population peaked in 1937 at 137 but there has been some emigration to Australia taking the number down to 50. There has only been one child born on the island in the last 20 years. The main occupations are fishing, tourism and bee keeping. There are no hotels on the island but it is possible to stay with families and there is a boat that takes day trips to the island.

The 2000s have seen a sexual crisis on the island. A sex assault/ child porn ring caught up 15 locals that were convicted. Clearly the islands got internet. Britain built a prison on the island for them to serve their terms. Britain makes sure there is a police officer, a doctor, and a mayor on the islands but the expense is high and there are ever present questions on when the plug will be pulled and settlement on the islands ends.

Well my drink is empty, and so I will pour another to toast the mutineer with the ships Bible. Where was his descendant when the island got internet?. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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