Norf'k Uniques

The Norfolk cricket pitch at Kingston is the oldest in the southern hemisphere, with the first match played in 1838;

The Norfolk telephone book is the only one in the world to distinguish locals by their nicknames eg. Tarzan, Lettuce Leaf, Diddles, Pinky, Slugs, Boonie and Boof.

Norfolk is home to one of the world’s rarest languages, with around 1000 locals speaking a Pitcairn-Norfolk dialect – a strange but fun-mix of sing-song Tahitian and West County English – a relic of the Bounty mutineers who hid on remote Pitcairn Island in the late 1700s.

Norfolk sports one of the most remote postcodes (2899), Australian currency, Australian police and teachers (Island funded), yet this external territory under the authority of Australia boasts its own government (but with no political parties), its own customs and immigration laws, its own stamps and even its own Commonwealth Games teams.

Norfolk’s official national anthem remains ‘God Save the Queen’ in recognition of the British monarchy’s role in granting Norfolk land to the families of the Pitcairn Islanders in 1856.

Norfolk Island is one of the few places outside America where Thanksgiving Day is celebrated (the last Wednesday each November) – a legacy started by American whalers once based here.

Norfolk is the most haunted place in Australia, according to Richard Davis, author of the ‘Ghost Guide to Australia’, with more documented ghosts per square kilometre than any other state or territory.  Most of the lost souls hark back to Norfolk’s bloody era as a penal colony.

Islanders, including Australians and New Zealanders working on Norfolk temporarily, pay no income tax, company tax, sales tax or rates.  But there’s no unemployment benefits and Medicare does not apply here.

Some scientists say Norfolk’s pine-scented skies contain the cleanest air in the world after Antarctica.

Norfolk is a real holiday haven, especially for locals who enjoy 12 public holidays per year (compared to nine or 10 in most Australian states).  Special days include Foundation Day in March, Bounty Day in June, Show Day in October and Thanksgiving Day in November.  Most locals also take Wednesday afternoon off – a long-time tradition once aimed at allowing locals to meet the plane.

Norfolk is home to what is thought to be the world’s rarest bird – the Boobook Owl.  Park Rangers could only find one owl, a female, in 1987, so they introduced two closely related males from New Zealand to keep the lonely female company and there is now a small colony on the island.  Something even rarer on Norfolk is snakes or poisonous spiders – there are none!

Roaming cows, geese and ducks have right of way on Norfolk roads.

Islanders and visitors alike practice the ‘Norfolk wave’ – a gentle raising of a finger or hand by drivers to acknowledge other drivers.

Norfolk was the first Australian soil to be blessed by the first rays of the new millennium in 2000 (and also 2001!).