Historic Cemetery

Norfolk Island

Island Ghosts and graves abound on a little piece of
paradise in the Pacific Ocean.

BY ARTEMIS GOUROS

According to Richard Davis, author of the Ghost Guide to Australia, the very charming Norfolk Island is officially the most haunted place in our fair land. Of all the Australian states and territories it apparently has the highest rate of documented ghosties and ghoulies per square kilometre. This is actually not too surprising when one takes into account the island’s bloody history as a penal colony from 1788 to 1854.

A truly gruesome tale is that of Bloody Bridge. An attractive structure in itself the bridge was literally built on the body of a vicous overseer. The half starved, cruelly shackled convicts were forced to labour on the bridge.

Driven beyond endurance one day, they slew their overseer. To escapedetection and severe retribution, the convicts walled him up in the bridge. Their pretended ignorance of the missng overseer’s whereabouts may have been believed were it not for the blood that began to seep accusingly through the still wet mortar between the stones. For all its supposed spookiness, Norfolk Island is a beautiful place and home to a picturesque cemetery. The graveyard, still in use today, is a small and sunny fenced in area located at the scenic Cemetery Bay. It is pretty, peaceful and of an impressive vintage with the oldest headstone dated 1798. The earliest burials on the island were at Emily Bay, a stunning spot boasting aqua water and a strip of golden sand.

The graveyard is a treasure trove for history buffs and well worth a visit from the ordinary tourist as well. The island’s tour companies offer guided excursions to the cemetery where they reveal the history behind the colonial and convict headstones.

You will see tombstones bearing the names made famous by the Mutiny on the Bounty, the descendants of whom still live on the island. The cemetery provides an excellent record of changing trends in headstone styles and the inscriptions alone will keep you engrossed for at least an hour. There are officer’s graves with interesting markings - for instance symbols indicating that the deceased was a freemason, touching tributes to departed mothers and sorrowful little graves belonging to children.

One of the most interesting graves is that of Thomas Salsbury Wright, a fascinating individual sentenced at the age of 99 for forgery and shipped out to Norfolk Island. Wright lived until he was 105 and he must have been extremely hardy to survive for so long under conditions that had proven too much for many a younger man. With the rolling greens of the golf course on one side, a panoramic view of Cemetery Bay on the other, and Bloody Bridge looming above, Norfolk Island must surely have one of the most beautiful, interesting and atmospheric cemeteries in the world.

For more information please contact Tourism Norfolk Island on +6723 22147