“The lowest Ebb in life”

“The lowest Ebb in life”

Individual responses to the forced evacuation of Norfolk Island’s first settlement, 1803-1814

Narissa Phelps – Griffith University

Published 2022

This article analyses memorials, or personal petitions, written in response to the evacuation of Norfolk Island’s first settlement in the early years of the nineteenth century. The colonists’ forced removal between 1803 and 1814 resulted in the forfeiture of homes, possessions and community. The personal narratives contained within the evacuees’ memorials provide fresh insight into the impact of the island’s closure and the preparedness of the inhabitants to protest the injustices they experienced. They convey the deep personal challenges associated with withdrawal from, and abandonment of, colonial outposts like Norfolk Island and the broader implications such decisions had on both colonists and administrators.

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Credit : Narissa Phelps ‘”The lowest Ebb in life”: Individual responses to the forced evacuation of Norfolk Island’s first settlement, 1803-1814‘,Journal of Australian Colonial History, Vol. 24, 2022, pp. 1-28.