History of the Pitcairn Islands History of the Pitcairn Islands The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. Pitcairn was settled again in 1790 by a group of British mutineers on HMS "Bounty" and Tahitians. When the "Bounty" mutineers arrived on Pitcairn, it was uninhabited. However, they found the remains of an earlier Polynesian culture that had since vanished. Archaeologists believe that Polynesians lived on the island from the 11th to the 15th century. These first Pitcairners seem to have operated
Hammond Island, Queensland Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York. These close ties continue to exist today. Captain Edwards of HMS "Pandora" named Hammond Island in August 1791, as he travelled through the Torres Strait with the captured Bounty mutineers. In 1802, the British navigator Matthew Flinders, in charge of HMS "Investigator", sailed past Hammond Island. He noticed camp fires burning on the island but did not make contact with the Kaurareg people. In August 1864, a government settlement was established at Somerset at the tip of Cape York. The police magistrates of Somerset were hostile in their dealings with the Aboriginal people of