Flag of Norfolk Island

History

Norfolk Island was first sighted by James Cook in 1774 during his second voyage to the southern Pacific Ocean. Settlers moved to the island in March 1788, when it was claimed by the colony of New South Wales. Cook surmised that the Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) could be utilised for the masts of ships, but his prediction ultimately did not come to fruition.

The island was initially employed as a penal colony until 1814, and again from 1825 to 1855. It was then used in 1856 to relocate people from the Pitcairn Islands, which had become overpopulated, and Norfolk Island was consequently designated "a distinct and separate settlement" from mainland Australia on 24 June of the same year. It later lost its self-governing status in 1897, when the British placed the territory under the administration of the Governor of New South Wales. The island joined the now-independent Commonwealth of Australia as a territory under the Norfolk Island Act 1913. However, its exact constitutional relationship with the rest of the commonwealth was not enunciated at the time.

A royal commission was established in 1975 to resolve Norfolk Island's constitutional status. Four years later, the territory was granted its own legislative assembly, but remained unrepresented in the Federal Parliament. The bill that became the Norfolk Island Flag and Public Seal Act 1979 was introduced to the Australian Parliament that same year and received royal assent on 17 January 1980.