Norfolk Islanders to Norfolk Island, arriving on 8 June 1856. These were the descendants of Tahitians and the HMS "Bounty" mutineers, resettled from the Pitcairn Islands, which had become too small for their growing population. The British government had permitted the transfer of the Pitcairners to Norfolk, which was thus established as a colony separate from New South Wales but under the administration of that colony's governor. The Pitcairners occupied many of the buildings remaining from the penal settlements, and gradually established their traditional farming and whaling industries on the island. Although some families decided to return, with 17 members of the
HMS Pandora (1779) from HMS Pandora." Thesis, University of Queensland, 1998. HMS Pandora (1779) HMS "Pandora" was a 24-gun "Porcupine"-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy launched in May 1779. She is best known as the ship sent in 1790 to search for the "Bounty" mutineers. The "Pandora" was partially successful by capturing 14 of the mutineers, but was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef on the return voyage in 1791. The "Pandora" is considered to be one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere. Her first service was in the Channel during the 1779 threatened invasion by the combined