Bounty Day on Norfolk Island - by Dr Pauline Reynolds
Every year on the 8th of June, Norfolk Islanders joyfully celebrate their national day—known as Bounty Day (or Anniversary Day). It is a commemoration and re-enactment of the arrival of the Norfolk Islanders’ ancestors—one hundred and ninety-one Pitcairn Islanders and three Englishmen (who had married into the community)—in 1856. The Pitcairn Islanders brought with them a unique culture and way of life which had been created by their ancestors—a group of Polynesian women (from Tahiti and Huahine) and Bounty mutineers who arrived at Pitcairn in 1790.
Norfolk Islanders are therefore an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically distinct people, who, while indigenous to the island, are closely related to the descendants of those families who returned to Pitcairn Island in 1858 and 1863, some of whom still live there today.
The Norfolk Island Bounty Day celebration begins in the morning with a re-enactment of the Pitcairners’ 1856 landing at Kingston Pier. This is followed by a procession of hundreds of islanders dressed in traditional island hats and period clothing along the same path taken by their ancestors after their arrival. They pause at the Cenotaph to lay wreaths and sing hymns in honour of the fallen within the community. A short walk along Quality Row leads to the cemetery where everyone gathers to sing the Pitcairn Anthem, and flowers are laid on the graves of family members. After various activities, families walk to the Compound where the highly anticipated Bounty Day picnic is held by large family groups who share delicious traditional island dishes.
On Pitcairn, Bounty Day falls on the 23rd of January, marking the arrival of a group of Polynesians (six men, twelve women and one girl) and nine British mutineers aboard the ship Bounty in 1790. On Tahiti, Bounty Day is occasionally observed by a small group of descendants on 27 October, the day that the crew of Bounty first set foot on Tahitian shores in 1788. All three events honour the islanders’ identity and belonging between the three island groups as well as ancestral and present-day ties across Oceania.
Dr Pauline Reynolds is a Norfolk Islander. She is a Pacific historian, novelist and literary scholar. She is invested in thinking through how islanders can re-imagine, re-construct and and re-write their own stories/histories. She has an active tapa creative practice and is a member of the world-renowned Ahu Sistahs. The Ahu Sistahs recently took part Tok Stori Tuesdays, a partnership between Lagi-Maama and PCF. To find out more about the Ahu Sistahs click here.