Cricket in Norfolk Island Cricket in Norfolk Island Cricket is recorded as having been played on Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia, as early as 1838, by soldiers stationed on the island. It continued to be played after the island was settled in 1856 by Pitcairn Islanders, descended from the mutineers of the "Bounty" and of mixed European and Polynesian stock. John Patteson, an ex-first-class cricketer and future Bishop of Melanesia, was a missionary on Norfolk during that period. From 1876 until well into the 20th century, a match was played annually on Bounty Day, the national holiday, a tradition that was resumed
Mutiny on the Bounty could use to enforce their authority. "Bounty" had been acquired to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti (then rendered "Otaheite"), a Polynesian island in the south Pacific, to the British colonies in the West Indies. The expedition was promoted by the Royal Society and organised by its president Sir Joseph Banks, who shared the view of Caribbean plantation owners that breadfruit might grow well there and provide cheap food for the slaves. "Bounty" was refitted under Banks' supervision at Deptford Dockyard on the River Thames. The great cabin, normally the ship's captain's quarters, was converted into a greenhouse for over a